Kia had a great opportunity to turn the new generation Forte Koup into a proper rear-drive sports car to rival the Toyota GT86. But they decided to stick with the cheap front-drive recipe. What they revealed as the new Koup was utterly disappointing. Do not despair, though. Turns out they have bigger plans for a rear-drive sports car.

As the head of Kia’s California design studio made it clear during an interview at the New York Auto Show, there are voices in the Company that want to make a proper sports car to reach new markets and increase the brand’s emotional appeal.

Kia has come a long way from being a manufacturer of cheap and shockingly horrid cars to a proper auto maker with global standards. But still, you don’t buy a Kia because you want one, you do so because you need to; because it makes sense rationally and financially. A good sports car can change all that.

For the time being, a Kia sports car only exists in design chief Tom Kearns’ office as a model, but hopefully very soon it will find its way to the real world. Kearns commented: “I think we should do a coupé over a convertible. A cabrio would be fun, but an affordable coupé in the US would prove more popular. Something like a Scion FR-S (GT86) that’s youthful, fun, affordable and rear-wheel drive would be great.”

via Autocar