Just two days ago, Kia teased a new concept car across its social channels, and it had me fascinated. The car’s EV-like proportions and four-door bodystyle led many to believe this would be the all-electric Stinger replacement, marking the Stinger as the only truly fun gas-powered car ever built by the brand.
I didn’t think we’d see anything more on this car until January at the Brussels Motor Show, but nope. All we had to do was sit around for 48 hours, and Kia’s gone ahead and revealed the whole thing. The car is called the Vision Meta Turismo, and it’s … very bright.
There’s a bright gold paint job that covers the entire fastback’s body, and a pretty spectacular greenhouse with a huge windscreen that spans beyond the front row and into the rear seating area. The whole roof is basically glass, save for a piece of V-shaped gold body and a lattice of black-colored beams.
Inside, the brightness continues. The driver’s section mirrors the gold paint from the exterior, with a yellow seat and a yellow section of dashboard. There’s a steering yoke—also yellow—and, interestingly, a joystick mounted to an armrest jutting out from the seat. Kia doesn’t say what the joystick does, though. Looking closely at how it’s mounted, it looks like it only articulates forward and backward, not side to side. It seems my dreams of a joystick-controlled production car will have to wait. But it’s a neat feature nonetheless.
Kia hasn’t actually said anything about this car being related to the Stinger, but company president Ho-sung Song told InsideEVs last year told InsideEVs such a car was “under study.” This is probably why people are relating this car to the Stinger in any capacity. If this car were put into production, it could occupy the Stinger’s spot in the lineup (it ended production back in 2023).
That being said, the Meta Turismo’s proportions are nothing like the Stinger’s. The Stinger had a traditional, gas-powered rear-wheel drive sedan profile reminiscent of its European competitors, while this car is more egg-shaped, like a Mercedes EQE or Honda’s 0 Series Saloon concept. Makes sense, considering there’s no ICE drivetrain to worry about. Here’s how Kia describes the car:
[The Vision Meta Turismo is] our first bold glimpse into the future of mobility. More than a car, it combines human-centered design with advanced technology to deliver emotional and immersive experiences.
Whether the Meta Turismo will actually go into production isn’t clear right now. If it does, I don’t see a world where it comes to the U.S., considering the softening demand for electric cars domestically right now. That could change in a few years, of course, but for now, I suspect this is simply a fun concept meant to show off Kia’s future design ambitions.
Top graphic image: Kia
I’m kinda diggin the giant windshield and the angled window/roof treatment thing in the back. The rest of the car is hideous though. Espectially the psudo sci-fi interior treatment complete with yoke, joystick and absolutly no other controls for, well…. anything. And why is the drivers corner a different color than everything else?
But as much as I like the giant wrap over windshield, I wouldn’t want to see the bill when it inevitably meets an errant rock on teh highway.
Wanna’ make a bet that it has facial recognition cameras in it, and feeds ads to the driver’s field of vision? No one is asking for this crap.
If I’m going to drive a sci-fi car, I’d rather it not be a dystopian shitbox, but instead something that makes my life better. It should be cheaper to operate, more efficient, easier to work on, able to last my lifetime, ect.
But the C-Suite crowd are dead-set on giving us a dystopia, one of the means through the cars made available to buy.
I’m not sure why manufacturers think we want to sit in a bubble. Can’t think of the last time I opened the screen covering the moonroof in our Acura
(A moonroof that I didn’t want but the car wasn’t available without a useless hole cut in the roof)
Consider how much that moonroof added to the cost of the car, and all of the profit margin it padded in that you had to pay for…
More of that dystopian-chic aesthetic. Add it to the Cybertruck, Honda 0 saloon, Bentley EXP15, Jaguar Type 00, Nissan Hyper Urban/Hyper Touring/Hyper Force, among other hideous monstrosities that no one is asking for.
I hope Aptera gets a foothold. THAT is the sort of “style” I want: it’s functional, enhances performance, and saves money, all through an actual leapfrog in aerodynamic drag reduction(and not merely the appearance of it). Screw what some CEO wants to impose on us for the sake of distinguishing “their” brand. I want whatever car I buy to save me money while operating it, you know, so LESS of my money goes to these CEOs.
It’s so “futuristic,” it’s hideous. Maybe it’ll be a collector’s item concept in 40 years.
The front view looks like the butt. And it looks like complete ass.
This is what happens when you 3D print digital models from Cyberpunk 2077.
ETA: the more I look at it, the more it looks like a Lambo birthday cake topper.
The front view looks like butt.
100%
It’s as ugly as a Willem Dafoe movie villain.