Kia’s EV6 GT finished first overall in a five-car comparison test by the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, scoring 585 points and edging the Tesla Model Y Performance by nine. The BYD Sealion 7 AWD Excellence finished last of the five, 77 points behind the Kia. Electrek reported the result on Oct. 22, 2026, and the finish gives Kia a headline win over a Tesla and a Chinese rival in a German test that weighed everything from braking to running costs.
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Two other cars sat between the Tesla and the BYD: the Zeekr 7GT and the Polestar 4 Coupe Dual Motor. The magazine scored all five across seven categories, and the Kia’s lead came from a handful of them rather than an across-the-board sweep.
The five cars and the points they scored
According to Electrek’s account of the test, the final order was the Kia EV6 GT with 585 points, the Tesla Model Y Performance with 576, the Zeekr 7GT with 569, the Polestar 4 Coupe Dual Motor with 531, and the BYD Sealion 7 AWD Excellence with 508. The magazine’s own results page is published at auto-motor-und-sport.de, which carries the EV6 GT’s data.
The seven categories were body, safety, comfort and convenience, powertrain, driving performance, environmental friendliness and running costs. Electrek did not report category scores for the Tesla, Zeekr, Polestar or BYD beyond the figure for the Tesla in driving performance, so the full breakdown behind the 508 and 531 totals sits with the magazine. Electrek also does not report the maximum possible score or how heavily each category is weighted, so the point totals are best read as a ranking rather than as percentages of a perfect result.
Where the EV6 GT won
The Kia won three categories: safety, powertrain and driving performance. Its driving-performance score was 96 points against 76 for the Model Y Performance, which placed second in that category. Electrek reported that the magazine credited the Kia’s safety score to braking and high-speed stability, and that the magazine said the car’s “outstanding driving performance” decided its overall win.
The Tesla finished only nine points back overall, and the report does not say which categories it won. The 20-point gap in driving performance alone is larger than the nine-point overall margin, so the Kia must have given back ground in other categories, such as comfort, environmental friendliness or running costs, though Electrek does not itemize which. For shoppers, the practical reading is that the magazine’s verdict rewarded how the Kia drives and brakes while treating the Tesla as a near-equal on the full ledger.
What the winning car offers on paper
Electrek lists the EV6 GT as a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive car with up to 650 hp and 770 Nm, a 0 to 100 km/h time of 3.5 seconds, and a new 84 kWh battery rated at up to 279 miles on the WLTP cycle. On an 800-volt charger it can go from 10 to 80 percent in as little as 18 minutes. Kia’s U.S. release puts GT-mode output at 641 hp, the same power expressed in different horsepower units, and describes the Virtual Gear Shift feature, which simulates shifts through visuals, engine sound and motor torque feedback.
The price gap is modest. Electrek puts the EV6 GT at €69,990, about $78,000, in Germany, against €63,970 for the Model Y Performance, which Electrek lists with up to 360 miles, or 580 km, of WLTP range and the same 3.5-second 0 to 100 km/h time. No price or power figures were given for the Zeekr, Polestar or BYD, so the points table cannot be read as a value ranking. A UK launch report from The EV Report described the refreshed GT’s 84 kWh battery and 18-minute charge time in the same terms.
The cabin and software are part of the pitch. Electrek notes that the GT carries Kia’s new ccNC infotainment system with dual 12.3-inch curved screens, and that its Virtual Gear Shift feature was borrowed from the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N. When Kia launched the refreshed car in Britain in June 2025, The EV Report noted a price from £59,985, a cut of £2,690, a top speed of 161 mph and a seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Those are UK figures from that launch, not German pricing, and they predate the test.
The result arrives with a catch for American shoppers. Electrek noted that Kia said earlier this year it is discontinuing the EV6 GT in the United States until further notice, so the car that won the German test is not currently on offer there. Buyers in Germany can price a specific build in Kia’s online configurator, the lookup Electrek points to alongside its test report.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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