Ask any automotive fanatic 15 years in the past whether or not they thought a Kia manufacturing automotive packing near 600bhp would ever develop into a actuality and we’re positive there’d be quite a lot of clean faces. However Kia is having the final snort. Following what’s been a tumultuous 12 months the Korean model is shaking us up slightly extra with the EV6 GT – a 576bhp, all-electric, all-wheel drive crossover that’ll hit 62mph in the identical time as a 991 Porsche 911 GT3 (that’s 3.5sec).

The brand new EV6 was revealed a number of weeks in the past as a smart-looking EV crossover, however the largely forgettable new mannequin has shot proper again into view with particulars of this high-performance GT mannequin being introduced. Driving on the identical E-GMP platform because the Hyundai Ioniq 5, this top-specification Kia EV6 GT options considerably extra highly effective motors entrance and rear that equate to a peak energy determine of 576bhp, backed up with a stable 546lb ft of torque.

As specified, the EV6 GT will attain 62mph in 3.5sec with a capped prime pace of 161mph. There’s motive to imagine the brand new EV6 GT gained’t simply be about straight-line pace, both, with growth overseen by Hyundai/Kia dealing with guru Albert Beirmann. He’s the person who’s been answerable for Hyundai’s sensible line of N merchandise, to not point out a German icon or two earlier than that. 

To make finest use of all this energy, the GT mannequin options its personal electronically managed restricted slip differential on the rear axle, which is able to assist successfully meter out energy and torque. Given its shut relationship to the Ioniq 5 and the deal with widespread modularisation of elements on the E-GMP platform, the EV6 GT will probably share the identical MacPherson strut entrance and multi-link rear suspension designs as that automotive. We’d, nevertheless, anticipate coil springs and adaptive dampers instead of heavier and extra mechanically advanced air springs.

The battery that can feed the EV6’s electrical motors is a 77.4kWh pack that sits alongside the bottom of the chassis, making a flat flooring and facilitating an unusually lengthy 2800mm wheelbase. The EV6 GT itself is barely a single millimeter longer than its key rival the Tesla Mannequin 3, however due its ‘crossover’ kind, sits over 100mm taller at 1545mm. 

The EV6 GT will be part of lesser single motor and two-wheel drive variations obtainable with a smaller 58kWh battery pack for a UK launch within the second half of this yr – Kia is already taking pre-orders. Kia has not introduced official vary estimates, however lesser EV6 fashions with a single motor and the identical battery pack have a 316 mile WLTP estimated vary – a determine the considerably extra highly effective GT will probably sit below.  Costs will begin at simply over £42k for the entry degree model, with this GT mannequin topping the vary at £58,295, proper on the tail of its Tesla and Polestar rivals.