The Stinger traces its roots to the GT Concept from the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show and the Kia GT4 Stinger from the 2014 North American International Auto Show. Designed by Peter Schreyer and Gregory Guillaume at Kia's European studio in Frankfurt and engineered by former BMW M Vice President of Engineering Albert Biermann, the car was unveiled at the 2017 North American International Auto Show. Biermann is now the executive vice president of performance development and high performance vehicles of the Hyundai Motor Group. According to Guillaume, the Stinger's design was partially inspired by the Coca-Cola bottle. During an interview, he offered the following comment of the car's purpose. "The new Kia Stinger is a true gran turismo, a car for spirited long distance. It's not about outright power, hard-edged dynamics and brutal styling all at the expense of luxury, comfort and grace. The Stinger has nothing to do with being the first to arrive at the destination—this car is all about the journey." Testing of the car involved over at the Korea International Circuit and at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The Stinger uses a shortened version of the Hyundai Genesis' front-engine, rear-wheel-drive platform with additional steel reinforcement and is offered with a choice of two engines: a 2.0-liter turbochargedinline-four engine that produces ; and a twin-turboV6 engine that generates at 6,000 rpm and of torque from 1,500-4,500 rpm for the AWD variant. For the European and Korean markets, the Stinger is offered with a base 2.2-liter CRDidiesel I4 that produces. GT variants are equipped with Brembo brakes and Michelin tires. The sole transmission is an 8-speed automatic with five driving modes and paddle shifters. For the Korean market, the Stinger wears the E badge, which symbolizes the core theme of "Engineered by Excellence". Kia claims that the Stinger accelerates from in 7.7, 6 and 4.9 seconds respectively. Schreyer reportedly drove a pre-production Stinger GT at a top speed of on the Autobahn. During a test by Car and Driver, an all-wheel-drive U.S. spec GT 3.3T with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires achieved in 4.6 seconds on the track, reached 0.91 g on the skidpad and was able to stop from in. According to this publication, the U.S. model's top speed is governed at per Kia specs. In tests conducted by Motor Trend, the 4-cylinder U.S. spec Stinger 2.0 RWD on Bridgestone Potenza tires reached in 6.6 seconds, completed the Dragstrip| run in 15 seconds and stopped from in. The average lateral acceleration recorded in track testing was 0.85 g.
Powertrain
Model
Years
Transmission
Power@rpm
Torque@rpm
Acceleration 0–100 km/h
Top Speed
Theta II 2.0 T-GDi
2017–present
8-speed automatic
@6200 rpm
@1400-4000 rpm
6.0 s
Lambda II 3.3 T-GDi
2017–present
8-speed automatic
@6000 rpm
@1300-4500 rpm
4.9 s
R II 2.2 CRDi
2017–present
8-speed automatic
@3800 rpm
@1750-2750 rpm
7.6 s
Marketing
In June 2017, Kia Motors teamed up with GQ magazine to promote the Stinger as a "street style icon". The Stinger GT was featured in series 2 episode 3 of The Grand Tour, where co-presenter James May raced it against two longboard riders on a mountain road in Majorca, with the car going uphill and the skateboarders going downhill. In November 2017 This Kia Stinger is Released in Thailand Model 2.0 Turbo 8AT RWD Prize ฿ 2,990,000. On 4 February 2018, Kia released two Stinger commercials during Super Bowl LII. The first commercial features racing driverEmerson Fittipaldi. The second features Aerosmith lead vocalist Steven Tyler driving the car on an oval track in reverse until he becomes 40 years younger. In January 2019, Kia announced a partnership with K-popgirl groupBlackpink to promote the Stinger.
Safety
;Euro NCAP Euro NCAP test results for a LHD, 2.2-liter CRDi GT-Line 5-door fastback variant on a 2017 registration:
