The Kia Stinger is the kind of factor automotive fans lengthy for however automakers are often reluctant to construct for worry that there aren’t sufficient automotive fans.

It’s a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) or, optionally, an all-wheel-drive (AWD) sport sedan with critical efficiency chops and house for the children. It’s a household automotive that may throw down. It’s a sensible commuter with an attractive secret. It’s Bruce Wayne as a automotive.

In case you’ll be able to’t inform, the KBB editorial group loves it. Our knowledgeable reviewer Colin Ryan in contrast it to the Audi A5 Sportback and BMW 4 Sequence Gran Coupe — vehicles with far larger value tags. He stated it “pushes the boundaries of what to anticipate from Kia.”

It didn’t final lengthy. Kia created it for the 2019 mannequin yr and, sadly, introduced its retirement simply 5 years later. There are nonetheless just a few on supplier heaps — if an excellent sport sedan with a 10-year guarantee and an inexpensive value tempts you.

We feared that the quick lifetime of the Stinger meant Kia would by no means try one thing prefer it once more. A brand new report says we want not worry.

South Korean Press Experiences Say an Inheritor Is Coming

A brand new report in South Korea’s ET Information says Kia will debut a non secular inheritor to the Stinger’s mystique. A translation of the article says it may “be launched in 2025 on the earliest.” Like most future Kia automobiles as of late, it’s electrical. For now, the challenge is known as GT1.

That identify may make all of it the way in which to manufacturing — automakers love alphanumeric names as a result of they work in each language. However we’ll be a bit dissatisfied if it doesn’t get named for the sharp a part of a wasp.

All-Wheel Drive, 603+ Horsepower

The GT1 prototype, the report says, makes use of two motors (one on the entrance axle and one on the rear) for an AWD grip and an influence output of 450 kW — about 603 horsepower. That may exceed the output of even the Kia EV6 GT, the model’s present efficiency champ.

Is it actual? It’s fairly doable. It rides on the identical platform because the EV6 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 (Hyundai and Kia share some possession and lots of automotive bones).

EV Engineering May Make This Straightforward

One of many promising issues in regards to the transition to electrical vehicles is that it makes introducing new fashions simpler. A lot of right now’s electrical automobiles (EVs) experience on widespread platforms. So-called “skateboard platforms” are practically flat mixtures of batteries, motors, suspension, and steering parts. As soon as producers construct one, scaling it up or down and tweaking its efficiency lets them create new fashions simply from widespread elements.

There’s no motive Kia couldn’t take its current skateboard, inject it with wasp venom and the goals of Motor Pattern writers from the ‘70s, and promote it to oldsters who need to get a ticket after dropping the children at daycare.

That was your complete concept of the Stinger. It may not have enticed sufficient patrons to final a decade, however the electrical age may make chasing wild concepts cheaper for automakers. Let’s hope the GT1 is actual sufficient, sometime, to make auto writers and adventurous dad and mom grin once more.