DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: Kia plotting GT expansion

A dramatic expansion of GT models in the Kia line-up will include some SUVs, but there are no plans to ramp the performance level higher than that.

Kia’s tuning overlord, Albert Biermann, revealed the strategy at a roundtable with Australian media at the Detroit auto show today.

“GT is going to become a global thing for Kia,” he said. “It won’t be on every Kia model but on several models.”

Biermann was speaking in the wake of confirmation the new Cerato range launched at the show will be topped by a GT model, expected to be powered by a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine.

The global GT roll-out is being led by the lauded new Stinger sports sedan, while the Optima mid-sizer also has a GT model in its local line-up.

The Cerato GT is expected to arrive in Australia before the end of 2018.

But while that car will probably offer around 160kW, Kia sister brand Hyundai launched its second ‘N’ model at Detroit, the Veloster N, with 202kW.

So why not push some Kia models up beyond the GT level to an even higher level of performance with Kia’s own high-performance sub-brand?

“With Kia we have the GT and that is good enough,” says Biermann, who oversees all Hyundai, Kia and Genesis performance tuning.

“It’s not its own division [like N] and we don’t need this with Kia. Our mission for Kia is ‘the power to surprise’. Everything is possible for Kia, anytime.

“Hyundai is a more serious, more quiet brand. We couldn’t do something with Hyundai so for the luxury we created the Genesis brand and for the crazy guys we created the ‘N’ brand.”

Biermann expressed little knowledge of the Cerato GT, saying he had been focussing on its next-generation European market equivalent, the Cee’d, which will continue to have a GT flagship.

“For the next generation Cee’d GT you can expect some improvement in the driving performance,” he promised.

“You can expect a step-up in handling performance from the current Cee’d GT … some [Volkswagen Golf] GTI customers would think this is a nice alternative. Maybe the engine power a little less, but the rest of it damn close.”

Biermann said there was no reason to exclude SUVs from the GT plan, but would not state if staples such as the Sportage and Sorento were included in the model roll-out.

“I don’t know if at this stage it’s [SUVs] in the plan but you can make a sportier car of everything. It’s just a matter of ‘do you find the business case for that and is the market ready for that?’.”

Biermann said the recipe for a Kia GT model included more power than the standard car and sportier handling and seating positions.

Sadly, the strategy means there is still no prospect of a higher-performance Stinger such as a V8, although Biermann acknowledges the car can be tuned further.

“At this time there is no plan and at I think there is no need. With the Stinger GT we are entering an area where we haven’t been before and I think we should go step-by-step,” he said.

Having defended the GT strategy, Biermann then conceded he was happy to wind up the performance of Kia models to the next level if it became part of the plan.

“I am ready any time to do one more step up,” he said.

“Once the GT step has been done successfully and established, well maybe then between the GT customers there may be guys who want to go one step up.

“We will be ready from the R&D side to do that.”