Kia EV9 GT Sheds Some Camo As It Starts Performance Testing on the Nürburgring Racetrack

Kia EV9 is the brand's second electric vehicle built on E-GMP architecture. The highly versatile platform uses an 800-volt architecture that allows the electrons to flow faster in and out of the battery pack. This means that the EV9 is not only able to charge faster than most EVs on the market, but its drive units can also draw a lot of power very quickly. This is the reason Kia is determined to launch a performance variant of the EV9 called EV9 GT. This will follow the successful recipe of the EV6 GT, Kia's most powerful electric model to date.

We've already met a heavily disguised prototype of the Kia EV9 GT when it was winter tested in Sweden. This is an important step in vehicle development, used not only to fine-tune the vehicle's dynamics but also to stress-test various components in extreme temperatures. Now, our photographers have snapped a Kia EV9 prototype that is more revealing, thanks to its lighter camouflage. The pictures were shot while the sportiest EV9 was tested on the Nurburgring racetrack in Germany.

Even with the thick black cladding, it was clear that the EV9 GT would not look much different from the regular model. After all, its smaller brother, the EV6 GT, is as inconspicuous as it can be, with only minor details giving it away. You can see in the latest pictures that the EV9 GT prototype features lime-green brake calipers on the rear axle. Although the front calipers are silver, the production model will have lime-green performance brakes on all four corners.

Rumors indicate that the EV9 GT will re-use the EV6 GT powertrain, which means it will rely on a dual-motor configuration with 576 horsepower. Don't expect this to extend to the battery pack, as the compact EV has a much smaller battery. The three-row EV9 offers either a 76.1 kWh or a 99.8 kWh battery pack, and we expect the EV9 GT to adopt the bigger pack. Of course, Kia could also opt to save some weight to make the EV9 GT nimbler. However, the EV6 GT also uses the bigger pack, so we're confident that the EV9 GT will follow the same strategy.

The sportiest variants of the EV9 currently available offer 379 horsepower and need only 5 seconds to accelerate from zero to 60 mph. The EV9 GT should drop under 4 seconds, considering that the EV6 GT needs only 3.4 seconds for the same performance. The sporty SUV is rumored to debut in early 2025, and we expect a price in the upper $80K, considering how the tamer GT-Line variant starts at $73,900.