Hot hatch enthusiasts will reportedly have to wait
until 2019 to get their hands on the new Kia Ceed GT, which will share its
underpinnings with the Hyundai i30 N. According to Autocar, it is being
developed by Albert Biermann, the man behind the i30 N, along with his team,
and a great part of its development will be on the Nurburgring.
However, Hyundai Motor Group will make sure that the
two cars won’t cannibalize each other. As a result, Kia’s hot hatch will be
less powerful than the Hyundai i30 N and will reportedly use a detuned version
of the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder powering its Hyundai counterpart.
In the i30 N, it is offered with two outputs, with
250 PS and 275 PS, and 353N m of torque in both cases.
In the more powerful version, the Korean hot hatch needs 6.1 seconds to go from
0 to 100 km/h and maxes out at 250 km/h.
Kia’s new Ceed GT, on the other hand, should be
offered with around 200 horsepower, which will make it a more affordable, and
slightly less powerful, alternative to cars such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
That might sound a bit far-fetched, but the British publication suggests the
Ceed GT might not use the i30 N’s powertrain, with Kia opting for a 48v
mild-hybrid powertrain with some 200 hp instead.
Whatever the Korean automaker decides, the
range-topping version of the new-gen compact hatchback will arrive with chassis
tweaks, a more aggressive-looking exterior and some sporty trim in the cabin.
The five-door hatchback might not be the only body
style of the Ceed to get a GT version, as the Shooting Brake, which is expected
to debut in a few months, could follow it.
