2014 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) is a significant event for Kia as they will be unveiling their first-ever take on a compact rear-wheel-drive sports car. They are quite excited about it, and rightfully so. So you’d forgive them for launching a tedious teasing campaign, revealing one side of the car at a time.

The new Korean sports car is called the Kia GT4 Stinger, and judging by what has been revealed about the car so far, it is a direct rival for the Toyota GT86. Not that the GT86 has any reasons to be worried, as the Kia is still very much a concept car. But if it were a production car, the GT would have been in trouble, because the Stinger features a 2.0-litre turbocharged gasoline direct injection (T-GDI) four-cylinder engine with 315 horsepower.

Kia has got the details of the GT4 Stinger spot on for a proper sports car. It has a wide and low profile, a powerful engine, rear-wheel-drive, independent double wishbone suspension, a close-ratio six-speed manual transmission, and on the concept car at least, a set of 20-inch wheels with 275/35R20 Pirelli P-Zero performance tyres. What’s more, it comes with Brembo Gran Tourismo two-piece cross-drilled rotors with four-piston calipers.

Kia GT4 Stinger stands a good chance of becoming a production car. But do not expect to get the same specs as the concept car. A sports car with all these mouth-watering performance parts will cost well over $40K, which is not acceptable for a Kia – especially if it wants to compete with the GT86.