Move over, Stinger! Kia working on new halo performance electric car with huge battery range and power - report

Upon its announcement, it was expected that the Kia EV6 GT would serve as the brand's halo performance model, with a 430kW output and a supercar-baiting 3.5-second sprint to 100km/h. But apparently Kia has other plans.

South Korean media reports cite insiders with knowledge of a dedicated performance model coming from the brand, set to be built on its next-gen platform and boasting industry-leading stats in terms of battery capacity and performance.

Codenamed the Kia GT1 for now, the electric car is expected to debut in 2025 on the successor to the current Kia/Hyundai e-GMP platform for electric vehicles, named 'eM', and allowing for some impressive figures.

Outlet etnews reports that it's been told by insiders that Kia is developing the GT1 on a battery pack with a 113.2kWh capacity - larger than that of the impressive 108.4kWh battery in the Mercedes-Benz EQS450+.

Reportedly to be a large sedan, the GT1 will boast a range of between 700km and 800km, though it could probably travel further if it wasn't for its all-wheel drive system and targeted output of around 450kW.

Compare this to the 430kW of the EV6 GT, and it's not quite guaranteed the GT1 will be significantly faster. It will however have a much longer range - the EV6's 77.4kWh battery only allows a claimed 424km.

According to etnews, a lower-performance variant of the GT1 could be in the works with a pair of 160kW motors instead of the high-output versions.

While the GT1 is expected to be the first model to adopt the Hyundai Group's eM platform, the brand has said it will be designed "specifically for EVs across all segments" and that it'll "provide a 50 percent improvement in driving range on a single charge compared to current EVs", as well as feature more functionality like OTA updates and autonomous driving.

It's expected the South Korean sibling brands' existing models will eventually move to the eM platform too - resulting in a trickle down of better performance across the range.