Kia Mum on Whether GT4 Stinger Among 22 Models Planned

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, CO – Kia Motors America says it has 22 new or updated models in the hopper, but officials are mum on whether a production version of the GT4 Stinger rear-wheel-drive sports car is one of them.

Orth Hedrick, KMA’s vice president-product planning, says no final decision has been made on producing the 4-seater.

“We’re still under study. We don’t have any announcements to make,” he says here during a ’16 Optima media preview.

Hedrick’s dodge could be smoke and mirrors, as Autocar reported last month a production GT model would arrive by 2020. The report stemmed from an interview with U.K. Kia President Paul Philpott, although it didn’t directly quote him.

The production GT would be based on both the Kia GT concept car from the 2011 Frankfurt motor show as well as the GT4 Stinger, said the magazine.

The GT4 Stinger concept debuted at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit and quickly gained a following. It featured a direct-injected, turbocharged 2.0L 4-cyl. mated to a close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission and promised 315 hp.

Wrapped around the low-slung chassis was curvaceous sheetmetal painted a deep yellow.

Pirelli 20-in. tires and Brembo brakes with 2-piece cross-drilled rotors and 4-piston calipers upped the GT4 Stinger’s performance cred.

While a sports car is an obvious hole in Kia’s lineup, Hedrick says, as with any model a business case must be made for production.

“It is dollars and cents,” he says, noting how much the car may cost to manufacture and how many Kia can sell and for how much are questions that can short-circuit a cool concept.

Calling it a design exercise, he says the GT4 Stinger wasn’t restricted by the same development rules as a mass-market vehicle.

A production version of the sports car would have to match up to the hard points of an existing platform, he adds.

Next-Gen Sportage, Optima Hybrid Due in 2016

The 22 “all-new or significantly redesigned” Kias are due over the next five years, KMA Chief Operating Officer Michael Sprague says here.

A new generation of the Kia Sportage small-midsize CUV is first up in the launch cadence. The new Sportage debuted at the 2015 Frankfurt motor show and is due for a U.S. reveal at the Los Angeles auto show next month.

Next year a new generation of the Optima hybrid sedan is due in the U.S., as well as the all-new Optima plug-in hybrid.

Sprague is mum on the models beyond those three, but WardsAuto data shows a new generation of the Kia Cadenza large sedan is slated for a redesign in the ’17 model year, while the Rio subcompact and Forte compact cars are due for refreshes in ’17 and ’16.5, respectively.

The Rio is slated for a redesign in the ’18 model year.

Next year, Kia will begin building Fortes at its new plant in Monterrey, Mexico. Sprague reiterates previous production-build timing of May 2016.

Kia will build Fortes in Mexico for the U.S. beginning in 2017, while WardsAuto data also shows the Rio will be sourced from Mexico for the U.S. that same year.

[email protected]