Change Agent

The Kia EV6 GT scrambles brand perceptions.

- JOE LORIO

THE CHAOS OF UPHEAVAL CAN CREATE OPPORTUNITY. Take the dawning EV revolution, which has already seen a startup car company rocket past century-old competitors to become the most valuable automaker on earth. In the latest upset, a Korean brand best known for low prices, long warranties, and liberal financing has created a machine with performance that rivals the most revered Germans.

In nomenclature, the difference between the Kia EV6 GT and the lesser EV6 GT-Line models is slight. That Kia denotes the top-performing version of its mid-size EV by reducing rather than adding to the nameplate is something of an undersell, but the GT's hardware shows the intensity of this effort.

The headline achievement is the powertrain. Other dual-motor, all-wheel-drive EV6 models serve up 320 total horsepower; the GT, presumably after downing a can of spinach, is bursting with 576 horses. A new GT mode affords access to the entire thundering herd. Normal and Sport modes limit output to 460 horsepower, and Eco cuts it to 288. The full hit of torque, which has climbed from 446 pound-feet in the all-wheel-drive GT-Line to 545, is always available.

In our testing, the 320-hp EV6 GT-Line hit 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, but the GT made the leap in 3.2. Let that sink in: 3.2 seconds to 60. In a Kia. It also dispatched the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 119 mph. Top speed is a claimed 161 mph. Clearly, this isn't your cheapskate uncle's Spectra.

You know what else laid down a 3.2-second 60-mph time? The Audi RS Q8. As for other EVs, the Kia vaults past the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance (60 mph in 3.7 seconds, quarter-mile in 12.7 at 101 mph) to sit at the head of the table with the Porsche Taycan 4S (60 mph in 3.4 seconds, quarter-mile in 11.7 at 120 mph) and the BMW i4 M50 (60 mph in 3.3 seconds, quarter-mile in 11.7 at 120 mph).