Kia Aims To Take Down Ford Fiesta ST

Kia GT concept (Credit: Kia)

Kia is working on a super-secret plan to take down the Ford Fiesta ST, a car that’s impressive for its firecracker acceleration, tight handling and firm steering. The folks at Kia plan on taking down Ford’s little hot hatch as a way to prove it’s a player in the performance market.

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The Korean automaker is keeping a tight lid on this project, at least for now, which means they likely have some nasty in the works. According to information UK site Autocar has obtained, the new car will wear a GT badge as part of the automaker’s new performance line, and will be based on the Rio.

Instead of dismissing this as a sign the Koreans are struggling to make themselves relevant in the performance world, realize that Albert Biermann is at the helm of the Rio GT project. Biermann used to be the head of BMW M. In other words, Kia has the ways and means to crank out some pretty incredible vehicles, as long as it puts all the ingredients together properly. Ford, the Germans and everyone else who has a performance line should start sweating.

There’s nothing solid in the way of engineering details for the Kia Rio GT. Expect a more rigid chassis, a sport-tuned suspension, and a tuned version of the turbo 1.6-liter engine, which Autocar thinks will crank out around 180bhp. That’s a little lower than what Ford claims for the Fiesta ST, so don’t be surprised if Kia pushes for over 200bhp.

Kia’s GT line of cars not only will include this Fiesta ST killer, but also a little sports car based on everyone’s favorite concept, the GT Stinger. The car will reportedly look like a mix of the GT Stinger plus the GT coupe concept (that was actually a sedan) that turned quite a few heads. It will be the halo model for the GT line, or in other words it should be wildly fun but might still be fairly practical.

More Kia GT models are coming, including an Optima version that should go against the upcoming Ford Fusion Sport.