NEW YORK AUTO AUTO SHOW: Can KIA's GT4 Stinger Be The Halo Car They Need To Vault Them To Premium Status?

I think them hiring the former designer for Audi has paid off in spades, they are on their way... Still think their quality over long run and image now is not what a Honda or Toyota is or what their perception is currently

Their warranty repair frequency is actually quite low.

It has that 70's, 80's retro Italian sports car look to it. - I am not sure why, but those cars come to mind when I see this.

It looks great, I would love to see it in production.

You're definitely onto something.

It has the clamshell roofline, old-school inspired wheels, rounded wheel arches reminiscent of an Audi R8 and the rear hatch of the Audi Quattro Concept.

A bit of a Frankenstein description but all these pieces are working harmoniously here.

definitely the first really cool kia

How did Kia re-invent itself so quickly while our good friends at GM have been waist deep in crap for decades?

The Asian hive/swarm mentality will beat out the Western "me first because I'm cheap" mentality every time.

They should work on "non-budget" status first.

@carlos
The Korean government gave them a blank cheque and told them to go out and spend whatever they need to get people to take a car home.

GM has to beg for a bailout while the Korean chaebols actually run South Korea, they basically write themselves blank cheques and put up trade barriers to our cars while cheap American go "la dee da, hey look, a cheap Korean product. Yes!"

Yeah, the South Korean government gave them money and THAT is what brought Hyundai/Kia their success. The dogged pursuit of higher quality and reliability that is comparable to Honda and Toyota had NOTHING to do with it. Hyundai/Kia is where it is as a company because they have worked their asses off.

@Matt,
People complain about the Japs currency manipulation when the Koreans are even worse at it, so much that the Japs are feeling the pinch. Currency is a federal government responsibility, if you follow their budgets, its actually in the documents that a devalued currency is the goal to boost exports.

With Jesus signing a FTA with South Korea, tariffs are coming off of the Korean cars yet they still keep lowered tariffs on our cars which are finally allowed into their stupid little country.

The Korean government supports their chaebols (Hyundai, Samsung, LG, etc.) in a big way; in the form of tax, liquidity through their group-owned banks, import quotas, technical barriers, labor laws, etc.). Having said that, Hyundai did overcome their tremendous national pride to hire Europeans at the leadership positions and let the European design chiefs drive the design of the cars over the last 5-8 years and that's a big accomplishment. I still reserve my thoughts on quality though. I hate to paint with such a broad brush but, personally and this is only my opinion, I only consider Germany and Japan to be truly detail oriented and meticulous in everything they do. I don't see Koreans (and many other nationalities for that matter) having that attention-to-detail in their characteristic. I know there are always exception but that's just how I see it generally.

There is NOTHING wrong with the government helping companies succeed, but the fact remains that Hyundai/Kia did a lot of hard work to get where they are. And YES their quality/reliability/durability is equivalent to Honda and Toyota. JD Power is NOT an unbiased source by any stretch of the imagination.

Nope, it still says "Kia" on the hood which is an instant deal-breaker for all but the poorest/youngest buyers.

I live in Dearborn in the shadow of Ford WHQ. I have seen Hyundai/Kia start from the butt of lunchtime jokes between engineers and execs to the center of serious conversation. The truth of the matter is that we now more than ever have a truly global automobile market, and those who provide quality product at whatever price point are going to be the ones who succeed.

If its not RWD don't bother.

You know, it really doesn't matter what we think, new generation - new way of assessing what's luxury and what isn't. When we(Generation X-ers) were coming up the luxury marques of our father's era such as M-B, BMW, Jaguar, and Cadillac were the standard-bearers,as they were the only options available, then something happened on our watch. Aided by advances in electronic technology the Japanese in the space of about 20 years went from building also-ran mainstream cars to world class autos that would make 10 Best car lists year after year. This emboldened and enabled them to enter the luxury car market after their mainstream autos were proven to be extremely reliable, and be taken seriously immediately as Acura, then Lexus and Infiniti introduced well-built vehicles with very few quality issues. Since many of us were still coming of age or just hitting college, by the time many of us started making enough bread to afford these cars, the cars were even better. Although the elitist mentality in some of us turned our noses up, many decided we'd buy a Lexus first, then graduate to a German, But by then many developed a more mature perspective about what really defines luxury (it's not all about prestige - because if you look it up it means fake reputation) and realized that the Japanese could hang and beat the Germans (Lexus, Infiniti), if not market as well as them (Acura, Infiniti). A Boomer might only consider a European/American and may never cross-shop those with a Japanese or Korean, just like X-ers may only consider a European/Japanese and never cross-shop them with a Korean. The Millenials get the best of all worlds as it's now their turn to decide what constitutes luxury for them and by the time many get to the $$$ making age they'll be able to choose from all the previously mentioned eras.