Even though the Kia EV6 is branded a crossover, you would not really be able to tell unless you had it parked next to another car for reference. It looks like a cross between a fastback, a coupe and a rally car and it seems to have really struck a chord, not only with buyers, but also journalists, and it was just announced as the 2022 Car of the Year.
X-Tomi decided it wasn’t sporty looking enough, though, and he created this EV6 coupe rendering, or as Kia would probably call it, the EV6 Koup. Losing its two rear doors instantly transforms the EV6 into a kind of hot hatch (with a fastback rear), especially since the wheelbase looks like it was shortened too.
But if Kia wanted to turn this into a production model, the lower wheelbase would probably not allow the manufacturer to equip it with the large 77.4 kWh battery pack, because it most likely would not fit any more. It would have a dramatic effect on the handling, since the resulting vehicle would be noticeably lighter and more agile feeling.
Kia has thus far announced no plans to either make a two-door EV6 or any kind of overtly sporty electric car. Maybe it will change its priorities once more manufacturers launch electric sports cars; several are on the horizon from Nissan, Toyota, Lotus, Alpine, Polestar and even MG.
Back in 2019, Hyundai invested in and became partnered up with Rimac, the Croatian electric supercar company. The companies announced they would collaborate on high-performance EVs and FCEVs, and at the time it was believed Rimac would help the group engineer and power its sportiest electric offerings, like the Kia EV6 GT or the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.
We haven’t heard much about the deal since then, but we presume it’s still active and we’ve yet to see the fruits of their joint efforts - the 577 horsepower EV6 GT will debut this year as Kia’s first serious electric performance car and after experiencing lesser models, we have very high expectations of it.
At the time of the Hyundai-Rimac partnership announcement, Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Product Division was quoted as saying
We want to build high-performance vehicles that are not only fast and powerful but also meet the highest expectations of our customers as the car of their dreams.
Our goal is to popularize electric vehicles and to create social value through world-class technology and innovation in performance.
