What's this then?
Kia clearly fancies a bit of the sports saloon market (or at least a bit of the marketing kudos that goes with it) and so has developed this, the Optima GT, a sporty, more focused version of its new family saloon.
Developed mostly at Kia's European R&D base in Frankfurt, the Optima GT uses a new 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with direct fuel injection. It's good for 245hp and 353Nm of torque, says Kia, and will do the 0-62mph sprint in 7.4 seconds. Top speed is knocking on for 150mph, while fuel economy is said to be in the high-thirties-mpg. Emissions are a touch high though, at 191g/km.
Under the sportier, more aggressive-looking skin, there's a tweaked chassis including electronic variable damping control. There are bigger brakes and a specially redesigned version of the Optima's steering setup too.
The standard new Optima goes on sale this November, but we'll have to wait till 2016 for the GT.
Neil Briscoe - 15 Sep 2015