The Korean marque isn’t one you’d be quick to associate with terms such as sporty or a drive that’s exhilarating.
But in the same way that Kia and its sister company Hyundai have dramatically improved the quality of their cars to be on par with its Japanese competitors, Kia in particular wants to be renowned for its cars’ dynamic talent, perhaps to enough to worry some well established European manufacturers.
The most salient clue to this ambition would be the appointment of Albert Biermann, former development chief at BMW’s M division to head up Kia’s newly christened performance vehicle branch.
Michael Cole, Kia Europe’s Chief Operating Officer, told Autocar UK just as much when quizzed about the brand’s directions for potential growth. “Dynamics is a key focus for us, with teams working on it across the business,” Cole said.
“We have built a reputation on design, quality and reliability, but now there is a lot of focus on ride and handling. We also want to be a benchmark on ride and handling. We can compete, but we want to better that and be renowned for our dynamics as well.”
Currently, Biermann has had his stamp of approval on less pronounced, arguably more pedestrian aspects of the company’s offerings such as the Optima GT sedan and Cee’d GT hot hatch, but Cole continued that the emphasis on driving experience and vehicle dynamics is now reverberating throughout the company. An emphasis seeded by their new performance division head.
These alterations to Kia’s approach will come to a head with the global reveal of their first production car under their high-performance umbrella - an all-new front-engine, rear-driven car moulded after GT Concept that was shown at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.
It is implied that that car will be a two-door coupe but given the GT Concept being a four-door, the debut of an all-new high-performance saloon is also possible. In that case, an argument could be made that Kia’s 2014 GT4 Stinger concept would be better suited as their definitive sports car.
Cole, on the matter of the GT Concept-inspired future model, said: “It’s a very exciting project. We’ll hopefully go through with it and not too far away, but there’s nothing to confirm yet.”
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