New Kia Stinger GT or EV7? Halo electric model to showcase future design

Kia says it’s ready for a new halo model to join its range after it achieved another record-breaking year for global sales. The Korean brand’s incredible growth over the last decade has established impressive market share in most key regions, with an enviable spread of both ICE and EV models. But according to the brand, a new halo product could illuminate the company’s path ahead, both in terms of design and technology. 

We’ve already been given a glimpse of what this could look like, too, thanks to the Meta Turismo concept revealed at the end of last year. The digital creation came without much context or clarification, but after speaking with Jochen Paesen – Kia’s newly appointed head of advanced design – we can now say that it does indeed preview a forthcoming all-electric flagship model.

We posed the question of whether Kia is ready for such a car, to which he answered: “Enough to say that we think it is the right time to explore those things. It [the Meta Turismo Concept] is not the only answer, but the fact we’re taking this as an opportunity, we feel it’s the right time to push these ideas, explore these ideas, work with these ideas, and find the answers we’re looking for. 

It’s not unknown for Kia to launch a high-spec model that previews its future direction, because this is what the Stinger GT did for the brand back in 2017. The rear-wheel-drive saloon, fitted with a twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine and luxurious interior took Kia over and above its former remit of affordable, mainstream models. It also previewed the brand’s more emotive design language, and gave the brand a dynamic persona it didn’t previously possess. 

Going into more detail about how the new Concept will relate to a potential production car, he told us: “the Meta Turismo was a great project, it was an internal study that happened to find its way out into the public. This was our homework to try and consider: how do you create something that is more emotional and still has our core values?”

“If you’re in the right mood it can be a performance machine, but at the same time, how do you judge excitement in a digital world for those who have grown up in a digital world? This is where opposites united is a great tool for us.” 

“It looks at many things; a more emotional form of language, and products that today we don’t have in our portfolio, but at the same time asks questions about how you use technology. Less screens, a richer experience.”

Kia has trademarked the EV7 and EV8 monikers, but for more global appeal, it’s very possible that the model will be given a name outside of the current hierarchy, possibly even dipping into the past with a rebirth of ‘Stinger’. 

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