A Kia EV9 GT Is On The Way

When we drove the enormous Kia EV9 recently, we found it to be a very pleasant car, albeit one that was about as exciting to drive as you’d expect a seven-seat, 2.6-tonne EV to be. It turns out Kia has plans to address that, though, with confirmation of a high-performance GT version.

The news came as part of a recent Kia presentation to its investors, in which it doubled down on its commitment to full battery electric vehicles. Joining the current EV6 and EV9 (as well as Soul and Niro EVs) by the end of 2026 will be an EV2, EV3, EV4 and EV5 (spotting a pattern?).

Of most interest to us, though, was the news about the EV9 GT, which will see a high-performance version of Kia’s wheeled skyscraper go on sale in early 2025. It’ll feature dual motors as well as uprated brakes and suspension, and Kia is targeting a 4.0-second 0-62mph time.

While we don’t yet have any further tech specs, Kia’s first GT-badged electric car, the EV6 GT, features a 577bhp dual-motor setup and does 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds. Kia, of course, is also part of the same group as Hyundai, whose Ioniq 5 N offers 641bhp and a 3.4-second 0-62mph dash.

We expect the slightly lower targeted acceleration of the EV9 is largely down to the sheer size and weight of the thing, but that sort of acceleration in a huge seven-seater is still nothing to be sniffed at.

Kia also confirmed that further GT-badged EVs will arrive further down the line. Between those, Hyundai’s repositioning of the N badge as an electric performance brand, and the arrival of the Genesis GV60 Magma concept, it seems that the entire Hyundai group is taking the whole electric performance thing very seriously indeed.