Kia’s document about business results for the first quarter of 2024 is full of the usual sales and financial numbers we won’t bore you with. To go along with the press release, the Korean company also published a recording of its CEO Investor Day that took place earlier this month. We discovered some juicy details about product planning.
The EV9 GT will break cover in January 2025 with “enormous power” from an upgraded dual-motor setup. Kia says it’ll do 0 to 62 mph in less than four seconds, which is impressive given the large SUV’s heft, weighing nearly 6,000 pounds. We’re expecting a major power boost over the 379 hp and 516 lb-ft offered by the most potent version on sale today. The additional oomph will help the GT version shave off more than one second from the sprint time.
Unless improvements to the battery are planned, the range is likely going to take a hit. That’s what usually happens when an EV gets the performance treatment at the expense of efficiency. The EV9 GT-Line available today does 270 miles on a single charge, per EPA. Kia mentions the full-fat GT model is getting a beefier suspension setup and upgraded brakes.
This isn’t the only electric Kia SUV about to spawn a GT version. Although not mentioned during the CEO Investor Day, the EV5 GT has already made an early appearance in China. It was recently homologated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, with images showing up on MIIT’s website.
Later during the presentation, which we’ve attached below, a product roadmap was displayed in the background. An updated EV6 is scheduled for a market launch in the second quarter of this year. The sporty EV6 GT will follow in early Q4. Kia also plans to tweak the popular Sportage in the final quarter of the year. Elsewhere, the first-ever EV3 and new K4 are coming in Q3 when the large K8 sedan unavailable in the United States is bound to get a mid-cycle facelift.
But first, a five-door hatchback version of the also-not-for-America K3 compact sedan is coming soon.
