Kia Stinger GT S balances high-end design with technological focus
![The reverse of the Kia Stinger GT S](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dAS2PL93cXLvCfnPgHNFX7-415-80.jpg)
If you blindfolded the average driver and sat them behind the wheel of Kia’s new Stinger, we wager they’d struggle to identify the precise make and model they occupied. In pitching its new flagship saloon at the upper middle end of the saloon car market – in terms of scale, equipment level and price – Kia has effortlessly demonstrated its ability to deploy design and engineering to whatever end it sets its mind to.
Cartoonish name aside, the Stinger is something of a brand revolution for this resolutely mass-market South Korean company. In every way, it comes across as a hugely competent take on performance car design, ticking all boxes offered up by rivals with decades’ more experience. Kia and its sister company Hyundai began by resolving to re-shape the mass market car. Rigorous engineering came first, following by a design revolution, largely achieved by distilling the best minds from Europe’s biggest brands (and remember that car design is a largely internationalist occupation) into concentrated quantities of brand essence.
Pushed, the Stinger GT S can reach a top speed of 170 mph
These concoctions proved remarkably potent, and the South Korean industry is now riding high on quality, both real and perceived. So much so, in fact, that its principal manufacturers are starting to mix a little fun in with the serious business of shifting units (Hyundai Kia sold about 7.25 million cars in 2017). The Stinger is a manifestation of this, an almost transparent attempt to siphon the best qualities of high-end German car design through the techno-centric focus the company has been known for.
A four door liftback saloon, the Stinger has the kind of hefty proportions favoured by Audi’s A7. In this era of diminutive city cars and SUVs and crossovers of all shapes and sizes, the big saloon car is something of an anachronism to buyers. Car designers, however, still relish the freedom of such a generous palette. The Stinger is a sort of designer treat, a gift to himself from Peter Schreyer, the talented German chief designer who has overseen Hyundai Kia’s journey into the spotlight. There’s some wayward brightwork – bonnet vents without a purpose, the occasional leery spoiler – but overall this is a handsome machine. In GT S trim, the Stinger is also a fine performer, balanced and throaty with a sub five second sprint time and a proper Autobahn-bothering top speed (nudging 170 mph, if you’re ever geographically able to test it).
In short, it’s a true GT car, one that comfortably undercuts its rivals in price. The Stinger also undercuts the hard-won cultural meaning of established brands. Does a high performance, beautifully made and elegant looking motor car have to be German? And in the next years, as the throaty old internal combustion engine is removed from the equation, you can expect even more unrest.
The Stinger arrives at a time where Kia is riding high on quality, proof that not every high performance, beautifully made and elegant looking motor car has to be German
The Stinger is a solid performer on the road, balanced and throaty with a sub 5 second sprint time
Hyundai Kia sold about 7.25m cars in 2017, and the Stinger is a manifestation of this market desire for fun in design
INFORMATION
Kia Stinger GT S, from £40,495. For more information, visit the Kia website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
CES 2024 was a showcase for how to shoehorn AI into next-generation cars
CES 2024 in Las Vegas underlined that future mobility will be shaped by AI, like it or not, as intelligent assistants emerge to guide, plan and converse with their human cargo
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
New Hyundai Kona EV is no aesthetic knock-out, but should you really care?
The Hyundai Kona EV sneaks unconventional thinking into the mainstream, cloaking excellent tech in wilfully awkward forms
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Year in review: the top 10 cars of 2023, as selected by Wallpaper’s Jonathan Bell
What were the best four-wheeled offerings of 2023? Transport editor Jonathan Bell takes us through the year’s most intriguing automobiles
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Wallpaper* gift guide: shopping with transport editor Jonathan Bell
From a spin on the Lego Ideas Orient Express to the world's most stylish e-scooter, practical meets playful in this on-the-go gift guide
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Hyundai Ioniq 6, the brand’s newest EV, impresses with its all-round ability and sweeping lines
We drive the Hyundai Ioniq 6, an electric sports saloon with an idiosyncratic sense of style and lashings of tech
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Peugeot’s sparky 308 gets hybrid power and handsome lines
The Peugeot 308 proves that mass-market design needn’t be dull, blending hybrid power with sharp lines and excellent detailing
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
BMW Motorrad brings out the big guns for its newest cruisers
BMW Motorrad R 18 Bagger and Transcontinental set the tone for high-voltage cruising with a brand collaboration with speaker specialist Marshall
By George Chapman Last updated
-
Dacia’s new Manifesto concept is a true outdoor utility vehicle
Utilitarian auto brand Dacia sets a bold new agenda with its Manifesto, a concept car pitched at the active outdoor market
By Jonathan Bell Last updated