The New Kia EV6 GT Gets A Lot More Power, Somehow Costs Less

When the Kia EV6 GT first arrived on the scene a few years ago, it was unlike anything we’d ever seen from the company, even after it had sold a proper fast BMW competitor in the shape of the Stinger GT.

The 577bhp, 162mph EV, though, was on another level entirely for the company that, really not that long ago, had cars like the Cerato and Magentis in its lineup. When the EV6 was facelifted last year, though, the fast GT version disappeared in the UK – until now. Not only that, but there’s a double whammy of good news for the facelifted car: it’s not only more powerful than before, but a good chunk cheaper.

That extra power comes courtesy of the same dual-motor setup as before, but with the power turned up from 577 to 641bhp, and the torque from 546 to 568lb ft. Despite the extra shove, the 0-62mph time is unchanged from the old car at 3.5 seconds, and the top speed actually drops 1mph to 161mph.

Those power and torque figures are also now identical to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, which uses the same powertrain and sits on the same platform as the EV6 GT.

While the Hyundai is pitched as an out-and-out performance hooligan, though, Kia is positioning the EV6 GT as more of an electric grand tourer, so it doesn’t get the 5 N’s full suite of torque vectoring handling witchcraft. What it does get, however, is the Hyundai’s surprisingly enjoyable virtual gearshift feature, controlled by the shift paddles on the wheel that would otherwise alter the level of regen.

Elsewhere, the updated GT has had its aptly-named GT mode fettled. Selecting this will sharpen up the steering and uncork the full complement of power and torque, as well as giving the 12.3-inch instrument cluster a neon green theme.

The battery pack is now an 84kWh unit, up from 77.4kWh in the old car, which leads to an estimated range of 279 miles. It can be topped up from 10 to 80 per cent in a quoted 18 minutes on a fast charger.

Finally, Kia has focused on making the EV6 GT comfier and quieter than before, lightly fettling the suspension for better cruising performance and fitting more sound-deadening materials. Given that when we drove the standard facelifted EV6, we still found it a little on the firm side, we’ll have to wait and see if this is a success.

It all sounds rather impressive, but most impressive of all is that despite bringing several objective improvements, the facelifted EV6 GT starts at £59,985 – a full £2690 less than the old car. That’s one decrease we’d like to see a little more of in new cars.