KIA Road Trip: Across eight bridges

“Cars inspire us. That’s why we want to touch them, get in, start them up, drive them, indulge our passion and experience them. As intensely and as subjectively as possible. So: Auto.” With these words, founder, publisher and editor-in-chief Michael Köckritz defined the core idea behind our Auto.Kultur.Magazin in ramp #01 almost 20 years ago. The theme of authenticity naturally resonated at a meta-level.

Everything else stems from this. But authenticity is a bit of a tricky business these days – for example, when the sounds of a combustion engine are artificially played back in an electric car, when the gear changes of a manual gearbox are simulated during acceleration, and when you can actually see virtual revs rising or falling before your eyes?

We are in Norway. And we are driving along the legendary Atlantic Road in three different KIA GT models. In the local language, it is called Atlanterhavsvegen. It connects the towns of Bud and Kårvåg over a distance of 36 kilometres. Its most famous section worldwide lies between Vevang and Kårvåg and is 8.3 kilometres long. Eight bridges span the islands, islets and skerries there; the road was completed in 1989, after centuries during which only a ferry had provided a crossing over the water. In 2005, a Norwegian jury voted the route ‘Structure of the Century’. In 2007, "The Guardian" named it the most beautiful driving route in the world. Its landmark, the Storseisund Bridge, is 260 metres long, 23 metres high and features three arches, beneath which strong currents form at high and low tide. Among other things, it served as a film location in the most recent James Bond film.

Our three GT models are the EV3 GT, the EV4 GT and the EV5 GT. The EV5 GT is the large, luxurious model, featuring three-zone automatic climate control and a front massage function. The EV4 GT, with its sleek hatchback silhouette and two-tone paintwork, boasts the most impressive performance figures on paper. The EV3 GT, the best-selling and most practical of the three, fills the crossover role, providing a grounded, everyday driving experience. And now it gets interesting: common to all three GT models is a virtual manual gearbox with simulated engine sound, which makes driving an emotional experience. The technical term for this is: Driver’s Engagement. Three vehicles, one setting, one stage that seems closer to a film than to reality. So, a car? Definitely culture. That much is already clear before we set off.

The GT designation isn’t entirely new to KIA. Its history dates back to 2013. Back then, the cee’d launched the so-called GT range, which was developed specifically for the European market. The Stinger GT made a big splash – to stick with the Atlantic theme – in 2017 as a Gran Turismo saloon. Admittedly, it had a combustion engine. And what a one it was. Absolutely spectacular. At the end of 2022, the brand launched its first all-electric high-performance model, the EV6 GT, which was crowned ‘World Performance Car of the Year 2023’. This was followed by the EV9 GT, the EV5 GT in March, the EV3 GT in June and the EV4 GT in July, each based on the same fundamental design principle of two motors, a virtual manual gearbox and a synthetically generated engine sound. The Norwegian coastal road is the setting where three of these compact models appear together on camera for the first time.

So, the curtain rises. The powertrain unleashes its power – provided you can keep your emotions in check – in a manner typical of electric vehicles: unhurried, velvety smooth and linear, yet delivering an immediate, powerful response to every touch of the pedal. In the EV5 GT, we’re talking about 480 Newton-metres of torque. Constantly available. The world’s best front-seat passengers appreciate precisely that unhurried power, which develops calmly of its own accord without any over-the-top drama. So it really is the bright green GT accents on the brake calipers, decorative stitching and steering wheel buttons that turn a KIA GT into an eccentric presence in the rather conservative, middle-class idyll of Norway.

That magical moment. The sound of the engine at the touch of a button. And something stirs. Hypothetically speaking. It’s hard to say exactly how many cylinders there might be. It’s probably not just four. But it’s not ten either. And certainly not twelve. That would be a bit too much of a good thing. It could be a six-cylinder, yes, that would fit. A six-cylinder, naturally aspirated, something like that. And suddenly, everything is different. Pressing the (accelerator?) pedal immediately triggers familiar sensations. Something builds up. There’s power that wants to surge forwards. Ecstasy that builds to a climax. And there’s a rev limiter that commands respect. Anyone who doesn’t pull the paddle and shift into the next gear will inevitably nod their head forwards, because the forward thrust is interrupted. It rumbles with engine noise, the gears shift with a click and a roar as it roars through the gears, whilst at the same time making a dramatic surge in longitudinal dynamics. Looking back at decades of motoring history, this GT range from South Korea is arguably the most ‘American’ thing on four wheels with an electric powertrain.

Or, to draw a parallel back to the world of film and car culture: “There’s no business like show business!”