Kia has a longer-term plan for their newest car, the Stinger four-door coupe, that extends beyond just being a sporty AWD saloon. Instead of hitting more price points and powertrain preferences, the Korean manufacturer might take it into EV territory.
Currently, the Stinger’s confirmed engine repertoire includes a 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged V6, a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, and a four-cylinder turbodiesel.
Interestingly, as revealed by AutoExpress in conversation with head of overseas marketing Spencer Cho, Kia has revealed that the car (specifically the all-new platform) has been developed with fully electric propulsion in mind, and can be made to accommodate banks of batteries in floor as well as electric motors to power both the front and rear axles.
Naturally, Kia’s pursuit of an EV-powered Stinger and Tesla challenger will only arrive after the rollout of both the less powerful petrol and turbodiesel variants, and depends largely on the automotive and financial landscape they find themselves when the time comes, either in late 2018 or 2019.
Should they be flush with cash at that time, the automaker might just collective say “Why not?” and green light an all-electric Stinger. They have had some experience with building and selling fully electric cars before with the Soul EV. Sister company Hyundai is also embarking down a similar path with their Prius-chaser, the IONIQ, which will also be sold as a full EV.
However, the onset of Kia’s first major global EV, especially one as high profile and dependent on high performance as the Stinger, will also require new technologies. Cho also said that the company is also hard at work on level three and four autonomous technology, being quite cautious about making sure it’s fully baked before implementing it into their cars.
Should the Stinger’s possible outing and a full EV follow this rough timeline, it could debut with proper self-driving capabilities as well.
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