Kia GT Concept Closer To Becoming Production-Ready

by Cameron Aubernon

April 7th, 2015 6:00 AM

kia gt concept closer to becoming production ready

Over three years ago, the Kia GT concept made its debut at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. Soon, however, the four-door coupe could hit the production line.

According to Drive.com.au, Kia America product planning chief Orth Hedrick is very close to being production-ready, and would likely fare well in North America despite the distance in time because it is a sedan, and because of its “younger, more emotional message to the market”:

I think for us the GT is a sedan so it has a lot broader appeal than a two-door coupe. They don’t do well here. They do really, really good for 18 months and then they really fall off. You can get just as much emotional experience in a sedan, a more practical car, than a coupe. But it communicates something very, very clear to market with a coupe in your line-up.

Hedrick adds that the announcement officially confirming the GT’s production would come soon. The concept is powered by a turbocharged V6, with the rear wheels doing the driving.

#Gt #Kia #OrthHedrick #Production-ready

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8 of 16 comments

NotFast on Apr 07, 2015

Where did you @!#$%^&* get a picture of me and my hot girlfriend?!!!!

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- Bball40dtw on Apr 07, 2015
  
  You missed the top five buttons of your shirt, bro.
  
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TMA1 on Apr 07, 2015

Ah, I was getting excited, thinking this was the Stinger GT4. And with a turbo V6 and RX-8 doors! That would truly be awesome. This looks pretty cool too though. Now, reading the linked article, looks like the GT4 won't make it to production. Too bad.

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Turf3 on Apr 07, 2015

"Coupe" means two doors. "Four door coupe" self-contradicts. Maybe you meant "coupe-shaped"?

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- Cameron Aubernon on Apr 07, 2015
  
  Does it (from Wikipedia)? "Four-door coupé: A luxury sedan with classic coupé-like proportions. The low roof design reduces back seat passenger access and headroom. The designation was first applied to a low-roof model of the Rover P5 from 1962 until 1973,but was revived by the 1985 Toyota Carina ED, the 1992 Infiniti J30 and finally by the first model 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLS, which stands in Mercedes hierarchy between the E and S class, and has appearance of a classic coupé and sedan. The term was also used partly from marketing reasons. German press accepted concept of four-door coupé and adopted it to similar models from other manufacturers such as 2009 Jaguar XJ. Also, other manufacturers accepted it, producing recent competing models like Volkswagen Passat CC, BMW F06 and even five-door coupé, Audi A7.The organization ADAC on its website also adopted this concepts.In Germany the definition of the coupé was finally divided into the classic coupé and 4-door coupé. This definition and concept of four-door coupé (instead of saloon) are evident in Germany, but they are not yet widely known in the rest of the world."
  
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- Turf3 on Apr 07, 2015
  
  @Cameron Aubernon Also from Wikipedia: "A coupé (US coupe) (from the French past participle coupé, of the infinitive couper, to cut) is a closed two-door car body style with a permanently attached fixed roof..." "The International Standard ISO 3833-1977 defines a coupé as having a closed body, usually with limited rear volume, a fixed roof of which a portion may be openable, at least two seats in at least one row, two side doors and possibly a rear opening, and at least two side windows." Car company marketeers can call something anything they want, but that doesn't mean the meaning changes. If you start marketing your inline 6 engines as "V6" engines, it doesn't make them V6 engines. We old guys are still using the word "coupe". When we're done with it, we'll let you know.
  
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- Cameron Aubernon on Apr 07, 2015
  
  @turf3 That's fine, darling; I'm not changing what I wrote in this instance, however.
  
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Wmba on Apr 07, 2015

Back in the 1960s, a GT was a particular kind of car, like an Aston Martin DB4GT. But Ford thought a 78.5 hp Cortina tinbox with 15 hp more than standard merited the title GT. And another long-standing definition was ruined on the altar of marketing. A coupe had two doors until Dieter Zetsche twiddled his giganto moustache and decreed a Mercedes coupe was better than that - why Mercedes' coupes now had Four doors. And everyone knows four is bigger than two. and thus better. With the rancid reasoning of marketing people bereft of any ideas resembling reality, Kia has decided that they too could make a four door coupe. One does hope they hired Lotus to make the thing handle, and paid some attention to structural integrity, unlike the Cadenza. Load it up with all the cheap H/K electronic doo-dads and a heated steering wheel to complete the luxury effect and they'll sell this thing, even though its nostrils need a good wipe with a Kleenex.

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