Kia Launches Trio Of Warmed-Up GT EVs

Kia’s performance-ish GT badge had a short but appealing run on petrol-powered cars, first with the Proceed GT warm hatch and then the criminally underrated Stinger GT sports saloon, but if you want to find it on a new car these days, it’s going to be an EV.

What's new with the Kia EV3, EV4 and EV5

That kicked off with the recently updated EV6 GT, and was expanded on last year with the gargantuan EV9 GT, which we’re still waiting for the UK arrival of. That range is about to more than double again, though, as Kia has used the Brussels Motor Show to debut not one, not two, but three new GT-badged EVs – or four, if you count different body styles.

Sharing the same basic setup are warmed-over versions of the EV3 compact crossover and the hatch and Fastback versions of the EV4. All three get a new dual-motor, all-wheel drive powertrain packing 288bhp, with 194bhp of that going to the front wheels and the rest to the back.

Each gets retuned suspension, grippier tyres and a GT-specific drive mode too, but most significantly, they get Kia’s paddleshift-aping Virtual Gear Shift system, first seen on the updated EV6 GT and closely related to the one on the brilliant Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. Inside, meanwhile, they’re set apart with ‘semi-bucket’ sports seats, tweaks to the user interface and flashes of the neon green that Kia’s chosen as the signature colour of the GT models.

Full performance specs are still TBC, but the EV3 GT will hit 62mph in 5.7 seconds, while the EV4 GT cuts that to 5.6.

Then there’s the hotter version of Kia’s new family-geared EV5 crossover (lead image). As it’s a bigger car, it gets a punchier powertrain – 302bhp – but thanks to its extra bulk, the 0-62mph time is a less urgent 6.2 seconds. It does without the faux-gearbox of the smaller cars, too.

Production of all three is set to begin in the second quarter of this year, with full pricing and specs to arrive closer to market launch.