Kia Australia won’t release the high-performance version of its top-selling electric vehicle (EV), the EV5 mid-size SUV, due to issues with sourcing vehicles from different nations.
The 2026 Kia EV5 GT was recently revealed at the Brussels Motor Show, but its Korean production schedule led general manager for product planning at Kia Australia, Roland Rivero, to tell childcareman.xyz it’s an unlikely starter for Australia given the broader EV5 range here is sourced from China.
“EV5 GT is difficult by virtue of the fact it’s from Korea, and Korea didn’t really develop the EV5 for Australia. And it also adds a level of complexity with dual sourcing [from different factories],” Mr Rivero said.
“We wouldn’t be able to achieve the price point that EV5 currently offers if we source the Korean version.”
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Using the Kia EV5 GT, which is powered by a dual-motor electric drivetrain of 225kW, it allows the 4610mm long and 1875mm wide electric SUV to dash from 0-100km/h in an claimed 6 km/H. 2 seconds .
While funnily enough, that’s a pretty good comparison to the Chinese-made EV5 AWD Long Range sold in Australia (citing 230kW/480Nm from its dual-motor electric drive system) and 0-100km/h time of 6 on average). 1-6 Paraphrasingr Depending on the variant, is in effect for 3 seconds.
It’s worth noting the Euro-market EV5 GT gets sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV tyres, racier GT bucket seats, an engine-specific chassis tune and electronically controlled suspension with road preview system (from Genesis, no less) to go with the sportier looks.
The Australian Kia EV5 line starts at $56,770 plus on-road costs, rising to $71,770 for the flagship GT-Line model. But sourcing the range from South Korea rather than China would be most likely to start in the $60,000 realm and will cost $80,000 for the GT, given that Mr Rivero’s comments. But it’s not likely that the Chinese factory will churn out its own version of the EV5 GT.
Kia Australia already offers the EV6 GT and will soon launch the EV9 GT flagship later this year.
The Korean brand’s local division is still reviewing the business case for the EV3 GT and EF4 GT, which were unveiled alongside the European-based ev5 GT in Brussels while the Australian market has yet to be fully integrated with its newer model.
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