Hotter Kia EV9 electric SUV coming in 2025

The Kia EV9 line-up won’t stop with the sporty-looking GT-Line, with an even hotter GT version in development.

“We are happy to announce that we are currently developing a high-performance version of the EV9, [which] aims to redefine what performance means in an electric SUV,” said Kia president Song Ho-sung.

“We plan to release a GT version of the EV9 in early 2025.”

That’s over 12 months after the regular EV9 will launch in its home market of Korea.

While the GT hasn’t been specifically confirmed for Australia yet, the regular EV9 has and will touch down before the end of the year.

An EV9 GT would almost certainly have more power than the GT-Line, which uses a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain with 283kW of power and 600Nm of torque.

Kia has thus far released only one GT-branded electric vehicle: the EV6 GT, which also rides on the E-GMP dedicated electric vehicle architecture.

The EV6 GT pumps out 430kW and 740Nm from its dual-motor powertrain, and has a blistering 0-100km/h time of 3.5 seconds.

The motors are powered by a 77.4kWh lithium-ion battery, while most EV9 models use a 99.8kWh battery. Only the base rear-wheel drive Standard uses a smaller 76.1kWh battery.

In addition to a higher-output powertrain, the EV6 received other mechanical tweaks in GT guise. These included upgraded cooling performance, retuned suspension and a unique variable gear ratio steering system.

Other changes included unique front seats and lurid green accents throughout the cabin.

While high-performance electric SUVs are becoming increasingly common, those that feature a third row of seating are rarer.

The EV9 GT would theoretically go up against the Tesla Model X Plaid, currently off-sale in Australia, which produces 761kW of peak power from its tri-motor all-wheel drive powertrain.

It has a 0-100km/h time of just 2.6 seconds, and features torque vectoring.

MORE: Everything Kia EV9