VIDEO: Kia EV6 GT walk-around review ahead of January release

The EV6 GT – Kia’s most powerful and expensive vehicle yet – is set for an Australian release in January 2023.

A list price of $99,590 before on-road costs was leaked earlier in the month, though Kia is yet to confirm this is the final ask. Still, justifying that expected price are 430kW/740Nm outputs courtesy of two electric motors, for a 0-100km/h sprint time of 3.5 seconds.

Driving range for the E-GMP-based EV6 GT is rated at 424 kilometres on the WLTP combined cycle from the same 74kWh lithium-ion battery pack as cooking EV6 GT-Line and Air variants.

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The EV6 offers a fair bit of punch, and will square up against the Tesla Model Y Performance ($98,425) as well as the Ioniq 5 N when that electric hot hatch lobs.

The EV6 has another party trick: the ability to disable ESC and traction control and initiate a rear-biased drift mode offering up smokey slides from a rear limited-slip differential – provided there’s more than 70 per cent in the battery.

As part of Kia’s USP, the EV6 GT has also been treated to local tuning by chassis dynamicist Graeme Gambold and his team, who have tweaked steering, anti-roll bars, adaptive damper valving and programming to hone the 2125 kilogram EV for Aussie roads.

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Who is the EV6 GT customer?

According to Kia's general manager of marketing, Dean Norbiato, the EV6 GT is attracting a whole host of new customers, with 50 per cent of web traffic from those interested in traditional luxury brands, 30 per cent from Kia’s existing customer base, and 20 per cent elsewhere.

Despite the high price-of-entry ‘for a Kia’, COO Damien Meredith was adamant the brand’s new halo won't be driving customers away from the brand.

“I don’t think we’re alienating customers… I think there's two pots of EV sales at the moment, there’s the price-driven EV and the performance-driven EV.

“We've gone for the performance pot in regards to what we've done with the [EV6 GT] specifications. There's definitely a price pot there, but as time goes on, and we get more EVs into play you can be sure that we'll be, probably not at the lowest end, but we’ll be coming down the pyramid”, Meredith said.

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Kia GT brand expands

With Kia’s GT brand becoming more serious by the day, performance driving and track days are likely to become part of the EV6’s wheelhouse. Norbiato said tie-ins with the Broncos NRL Football team will happen, but also that buyers are interested in programs and events similar to those we’ve seen from Hyundai’s N Performance brand.

“The punters are quite active now, the amount of Facebook groups popping up for [the EV6 GT] in particular is high.

"We're going to look at trying to create some user-generated content from that, because we do feel that the GT does suit the track experience, more so than the GT-Line and Stinger”, Norbiato said.

As for the future of the GT brand, the Kia team notes that like the carmaker itself, the performance moniker will evolve in line with global intentions, though likely with stricter definitions of the cars and segments that are allowed to wear the badge.

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EV6 GT Australian supply

Supply will be crucial to the EV6’s continued success, especially after well-documented wait times and slow shipments in 2022. For 2023, Kia is looking to secure a greater number of EV6s.

“Our expectation is that supply will be pretty good”, Meredith said optimistically. “It will probably be a bit over two-and-a-half to three times what it was this year."

With a month left in 2022, Kia has managed to shift 533 EV6s. That’s a little adrift of Hyundai Ioniq 5s (678), less than half the number of Polestar 2 sales (1265) and not in the ballpark of Tesla’s staggering 8257 Model Y registrations.

With two-and-a-half to three times 2022’s supply, we can expect upwards of 1500 EV6 deliveries in the next calendar year.

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“Now, obviously, there'll be more orders than there is supply”, Meredith added, though Kia will be able to chop-and-change specification within that limit.

Effectively, if the predicted 70 per cent of demand comes from EV6 GT, Kia will be able to accommodate this. And as the demand changes month-on-month, as will the production to reflect what customers want.

EV6 GT Australian chassis tuning

Despite being equipped with the same visage as everywhere else, Australian EV6s are a little different under the skin, having had their steering, anti-roll bars and active dampers fettled for our market.

“Our road conditions are quite different from the global measure, so we spent a lot of time having to tailor the suspension tune and vehicle dynamics to be suitable for Australian conditions.

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“So the focus for [the EV6 GT], certainly against the European European tune, is that we've been looking to improve its rough road grip, and confidence at the limit”, Gambold told Wheels.

As for what that looks like – and if Kia has managed to make the ride on 255/40 R21 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres agreeable – we’ll have to wait until our first drive in January 2023.

Australian pricing, specification and details

One aspect the $100K EV6 GT doesn’t offer is extensive customisation, with only six colours to choose from, one upholstery pattern and no options, there isn’t as much choice as Polestar or Tesla offer for similar money.

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Inside, there is a familiar architecture with wireless charging pad, dual 12.3-inch screens – one touch for infotainment and the other for the digital driving display.

The EV6 GT also ditches the GT-Line’s luxurious power leather-appointed seats for low-set manually-adjustable buckets designed to better interface with helmets.

EV6 GTs will begin rolling out onto Aussie roads in earnest next January, with pricing almost certain to start at $99,590 before on-road costs.