Kia’s “Silent” EV6 GT Commercial Tries To Spin Fact That EVs Sound Really Boring

“You know, I never thought I’d say a 9-second quarter mile would be a little underwhelming, but there’s no drama.”

Car &Driver video man Carlos Lago’s comments after blasting down a makeshift dragstrip in a Tesla Model S Plaid against a Suzuki Hayabusa superbike perfectly summed up the problem facing the companies trying to sell electric cars to gas-loving gearheads (for the record the bike rider found it plenty exciting, despite losing).

Going fast is only part of the excitement equation, and while EVs can certainly accelerate quickly, without any gearchanges to jolt your head or busy your hands, and most of all, without any noise to speak of, they can feel pretty dull once the initial novelty has worn off.

Related: Watch Kia’s EV6 GT Electric Car Eat A Ferrari, Lamborghini, AMG And Porsche In A Drag Race

https://youtu.be/wKL9NoHyLCs

That’s the uncomfortable truth (and a 9-second quarter mile is pretty uncomfortable, no matter how quiet) that Kia tries to tackle with its latest advertisement for the EV6 GT. The GT is the halo model in the EV6 range, a 576 hp (585 PS) family crossover that thinks it’s a supercar – but sounds like a futuristic golf kart. The dual-motor drivetrain shares 545 lb-ft (740 Nm) between all four wheels, which is enough to send Kia’s fastest ever production car to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.4 seconds and on to a 161 mph (259 km/h) top speed.

Kia already showcased the GT’s performance last year when it released a film of the sedan wasting a load of B-team exotics in a drag race, but this time it’s taken a different tack. Called “Silence is Powerful”, the ad spot pairs the EV6 GT with Kris Martin, a hearing-impaired NASCAR and Le Mans driver and former kart champion in an attempt to convince us that performance cars don’t need to have loud, revving engines.

“I don’t need noise to tell me something is fast,” Martin says. “I’ve been deaf since I was born. It taught me one thing: silence is powerful.”

But is it powerful enough to persuade you out of your combustion cars? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think of Kia’s attempt to spin the sound issue.