Kia rules out performance sub-brand

It will launch more performance models, however.

Kia won't follow the path blazed by sister company Hyundai with a standalone sub-brand dedicated to performance cars. That doesn't mean the Stinger (pictured) will remain its only enthusiast-approved option, however.

"For Kia, it is not the decision to enter with high-performance cars. We did it with Hyundai N but there's a clear decision not to with Kia, and GT needs to be a reasonable package. With the Ceed GT now, the minute you go high-performance, you need to work at a race track, and then the costs go up and the business case gets very challenging. Doing that next step is not easy," said Albert Biermann, Hyundai-Kia's high-performance boss, in an interview with British magazine Autocar.

The publication adds engineers are nonetheless drawing lessons from the Stinger project to make even Kia's run-of-the-mill models more engaging to drive. The firm also wants to gradually build a small range of GT-badged models with real enhancements, not just bigger wheels and black trim pieces. Biermann revealed the next-generation Optima has already been singled out to receive the GT treatment.

"For the next Optima GT, you can expect an interesting powertrain and suspension at the next level. It'll be the next level of Kia driving performance," he hinted.

Interestingly, he also noted the third-generation Soul will morph into a more dynamic model with "a level of agility not there before." It's scheduled to make its debut in the coming months -- possibly at the 2018 Los Angeles auto show -- so we won't have to wait long to find out how Biermann and his team tweaked it.

Photo by Byron Hurd.