Kia Stinger sports sedan to be reborn as 2026 Kia GT1 electric car with 450kW of EV power: report

Just when we thought the Kia Stinger had departed this world, a leak from a Korean factory planning schedule has revealed it will be resurrected as a 450kW, all-electric high-performance sedan called the GT1.

The news comes from Korean Car Blog which has obtained Kia’s new car production schedule that gives away not only when the GT1 will be built, but also some juicy technical specifications from motor output to battery size. 

Codenamed ‘GT1’, the document says the vehicle will have an enormous 113kWh battery. That’s larger than anything Kia currently has in any of its electric vehicles, with the EV9’s 99.8kWh battery being the biggest on offer.

The plan estimates that with a 113kWh battery the GT1 will have a range of between 700-800km (WLTP). Those figures correlate with the EV9’s range of 512km (WLTP).  

While you can expect the GT1 to share the sharp, blocky looks of the EV9 as shown in the image above, the vehicle will have different technological underpinnings. The GT1 is expected to be the first model to be built on the company's next-generation electric ‘eM’ platform.

The leaked report even details the specs of the GT1’s motors. The front motor will have an output of 200kW, while the rear motor will make 250kW for a combined 450kW and, of course, all-wheel drive.

Kia’s most powerful and fastest electric car is the EV6 GT, which makes 430kW and has a 0-100km/h time of 3.5 seconds. The GT1 then would most likely do the same sprint in close to 3.3 seconds.

And we thought the 0-100km/h time of 4.9 seconds for 274kW/510Nm V6 petrol-powered Kia Stinger was good.

So, when will the GT1 be arriving? According to the report, we should see the GT1 debut globally in 2026.