Kia Gave Rafael Nadal A Full-Size EV4 GT Sculpted From Tennis Court Clay
A full-size Kia EV4 GT sculpture mixes court clay with modeling clay to mark Nadal's long-running partnership with the brand.
Kia has turned a sculptor's medium into a sports tribute. The automaker built a full-size, non-drivable clay version of its EV4 GT hatchback using soil collected from the clay courts where Rafael Nadal won his record 63 singles titles.
The piece was handed to Nadal at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, marking a partnership that began when he was still a teenage prospect on the Spanish circuit.
Rafael Nadal's 'King of Clay' Legacy
Kia EV4 GT Clay Tribute To Rafael Nadal
The sculpture keeps the EV4 GT's five-door hatchback proportions intact, but swaps paint and metal for clay pulled from courts in Monte Carlo, Paris, Rome and Madrid. White automotive design tape runs across the orange-red surface, standing in for the lines of a tennis court.
Etched into the body are the numbers that built Nadal's reputation as the King of Clay: his 63 clay-court singles titles, a run of 50 consecutive sets won on the surface, and the five seasons he finished ranked world number one. The sculpture also bears his signature, turning a design exercise into a personal keepsake.
Kia says those markings belong strictly to this one-off piece and will never reach the production EV4 GT. Clay modeling itself is standard practice in vehicle design. It lets engineers judge surfaces and proportions by hand before a car ever reaches digital tooling or a wind tunnel.
Soohang Chang, president and CEO of Kia Europe, tied the gesture directly to the brand's long read on Nadal's career. Chang said in a statement:
'Rafael's determination and resilience have inspired tennis players and fans around the world, and those values have been central to our partnership since 2004.'
Gallery: Kia EV4 GT Clay Homage To Rafael Nadal
Two-Decade Kia-Nadal Partnership
Kia Spain first backed Nadal in 2004, when he was an emerging player rather than a future Grand Slam record holder. After his breakthrough French Open win in 2005, he became Kia's global brand ambassador the following year.
He's kept that role for more than two decades, and continued it after retiring from professional tennis following the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.
Nadal called the tribute a meaningful marker of that stretch. He said:
'For more than twenty years, Kia has been by my side throughout my career, through all the highs and the challenges. Receiving this tribute, created from the material that has defined so much of my journey, is incredibly meaningful.'
Kia's tennis ties extend past one ambassador. In 2026 the brand marked 25 years of sponsoring the Australian Open, one of tennis's four Grand Slam tournaments, and it has separately extended its sponsorship of English cricket's Surrey County Cricket Club through 2029.
The EV4 GT chosen for the tribute is not a random pick either. It sits inside Kia's expanding performance EV range alongside the EV3 GT and EV5 GT.
In production form it pairs dual-motor all-wheel drive with 288 horsepower and a claimed 0-62 mph time of 5.6 seconds, specs still pending final European homologation.
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Source: Kia
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