Kia's GT performance brand might be all but dead right now, but that doesn't mean the company has given up on fast vehicles. Kia's global planning boss has said that GT is still on the menu, and that as Kia looks at the future of the brand, it is looking at trying something it had given up on. Gas-powered vehicles wearing the GT badge. GT Hasn't Had The Success Of N Kia Hyundai's N performance arm has been a smash hit. It started with gas hot hatches and sedans, then exploded with the Ioniq 5 N. Now it plans to offer at least seven models, doubling its lineup of enthusiast-focused vehicles.Kia's initial plans were far more ambitious, but they have definitely not panned out. The Kia Stinger GT, its sports sedan, sold poorly and lasted just one generation. The K5 GT is largely ignored, and the EV6 GT electric has been dropped from the US market, though there are other EVs coming elsewhere in the world."So far, we were focusing on the EV models," Kia's global head of planning Spencer Cho toldAustralian media. "[We are] trying to offer the old GT models, but we still see the opportunities for some ICE models as well."What models might get the treatment? "We are looking at all the options, including ICEs and EVs, and all those powertrain choices," Cho said, though he did narrow it down slightly. "Because of the wide range of the model lines, we cannot offer every model with the GTs, so we [will] try to carefully decide which model will be [the] right product for the GT," he said. Kia Needs To Bring Back Gas GTs Kia Elsewhere in the world, Kia offers GT variants of nearly all of its electric cars. The EV3, EV4, EV5, EV6, and EV9 all get the treatment with extra horsepower and revised suspension and braking systems. This isn't to be confused with Kia's GT-Line badged cars, which are little more than appearance changes."Our sedan models might be a natural fit with the GT nomenclature and the sportiness standpoint, but we also see some opportunities with the SUVs as well," Cho said. He recognized that SUVs are currently the dominant shape with buyers, and the company needs to meet customers where they are.Moving to a fully electric GT lineup hurts the brand in what might be the largest performance market in the world. US buyers snap up more BMW M models than any other country, keep manual transmissions alive well past their end dates in several vehicles, and take home enough VW Golf GTI and R models to keep them on sale when the basic version is gone. The US likes fun cars.If Kia wants to sell performance cars in the US, it needs to build more with gas engines. Even if it competes in segments where there aren't many performance-oriented competitors from mainstream brands.Speaking of the US, Cho was asked if the Kia Seltos small crossover could get a GT model. "Possibly, possibly," he said. Which isn't exactly reassuring, but it's not nothing.
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