Kia earlier debuted the GT sports car and now they are reduced to finish their lineup with a grand finale. Rumors claim that a new Rio GT is underway which is scheduled for an official reveal at the Paris auto expo.

The car will go into production in 2017 and deliver may take another year or less based on how Kia plans to handle it. The high performance GT will reach the buyers in 2018 and will be a tough competitor for the Ford Fiesta ST hot hatchback. Fiesta has been enjoying a competition-less space for a long time and the competition coming from a surprisingly new brand rather than the big players will change the scenario for Ford.

Kia is not only building a brand new performance, but has also developed a platform. All their future cars will be built on this platform which is said to be extremely lightweight, safer due to its rigid build and provides better driving dynamics than its predecessor. After using the same platform for many years, it is time for all auto manufacturers to revamp their base platform which they are doing so. It will pave way for next gen cars and obviously many of them are going to be plug-in hybrids.

While the maker has not confirmed it, the Kia Rio GT is expected to be powered by a 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine. It is a conventional petrol engine which will be eco-friendly with low carbon emission and tuned to offer performance while being highly fuel efficient. The car should easily deliver above 180 horsepower.

A similar engine is used by the Fiesta ST which provides 197 horsepower. The only competitor who could come close to the Ford offering at the moment is the Mini Cooper S. Kia has another two years to go before which Ford may have revamped their existing model to offer a tougher competition. But, we can’t comment on any of these right now until both cars are available for a test drive and review.

Kia GT is further expanding their lineup with Optima GT and Proceed GT. There is also the Stinger, four door sedan and a coupe concept. While these are interesting on paper, it may take a while for engineers to design and bring these concept cars into the real world. For now, we could wait for the Paris show to unveil before getting really excited much.