While others are putting the brakes on EV launches, Kia is boldly determined to race ahead with its plans.
At a launch event in Spain, the firm’s president and chief executive, Ho Sung Song, remained bullish about the potential growth of all-electric vehicles, particularly in Europe.
He said that while there has been a slide in EV sales in Europe, “if you look at the 2030 EV volume forecasts it is almost 29 million cars – around 31 per cent of the global new car market. So a big market is still coming. Our EV strategy is now to continuously to introduce volume EV models.”
With volume sales as a cornerstone for the brand’s strategy, it’s hardly surprising that he highlights the new EV2 Concept car, due to go into production next year at the firm’s plant in Slovakia and targeted at European buyers, with prices starting at €30,000.
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The EV2 was certainly the highlight of Kia’s EV Day and the brand’s design boss, Karim Habib, was quick to point out that the concept’s exterior design is virtually identical to the production model.
There are some styling carry-overs from the larger Kia models, but its silhouette is a nod towards the stylish lines of the former Soul, a favourite of many motoring writers if not a sales success in Europe.
Power is expected to come from a choice of 42kWh LFP (lithium Iron phosphate) or 62kWh (Nickel-cobalt Manganese) battery packs, delivering ranges of between 300 and 440km.
The EV2 is set to do battle with a fleet of diminutive crossovers coming to market in the next 12 months, including the Fiat Grande Panda EV and the Renault 4 E-Tech, delivering long-overdue competitively priced options to mainstream Irish car buyers.
Before the EV2’s arrival, the big story for Kia will be the roll-out this year of its new EV4 – in hatchback and saloon formats – plus the Korean auto giant’s entry into the commercial vehicle market with a range of all-electric vehicles.
With similar styling touches to the larger EV6, the EV4 hatchback will start at €37,000 and aims to be a volume player in the market, an all-electric alternative to the C’eed, which will be phased out in time.
The saloon’s styling will divide opinion. The rear may add an extra 55 litres of bootspace – at 490 litres – but it looks like it was retrofitted on to the hatchback rather than an integral part of the car. However, that lozenge tail does give the saloon better range than the hatchback.
With the hatchback produced in Slovakia and the saloon coming from Korea, it’s clear the car firm believes most European buyers will opt for the former format.
All EV4s are powered by a 150kW electric motor, with a choice of 58.3kWh or 81.4kWh battery packs. The smaller battery pack delivers 410km in the hatchback and 430km range in the saloon. The larger battery claims 590km in hatch and an impressive 630km in saloon.
As with the rest of Kia’s EV range, one feature that will lure a lot of Irish buyers, particularly along the west coast, is the so-called Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality.
In layman’s terms, you get an adaptor for the charging port that lets you insert a three-pin plug and use the battery to power your home appliances.
According to figures from Commission for Regulation of Utilities, the average daily electricity consumption for a household in Ireland is 11.5kWh, so a fully-charged EV4 should keep you going for a few days in the event of an outage.
With volume sales in mind, Kia is also moving into the commercial vehicle market. It’s new PV5 is built on a modified version of the firm’s all-electric car platform, but Song was eager to point to the flexibility in formats offered by the firm.
He said that having previously spent several years living in Europe, he saw how costly it was for commercial vehicle buyers to convert vans to their specific needs.
With the PV5, Kia has developed a new modular production system at its plant in Korea, which Song says significantly reduces the complexity and cost, allowing for diverse upper body designs to be integrated into the EV platform.
That means the all-electric PV5 will be offered as a seven-seat passenger vehicle, a smart wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) with an integrated side access ramp, along with an array of regular van or five-seater crew options. Variants with features such as freezer boxes will also be available, with these features powered by the battery pack. There are also plans for a camper van version.
The promised range is 400km, which for Irish taxi drivers could be enough to tempt them to make the move, particularly given the wheelchair version.
Ronan Flood, managing director of Kia Ireland, estimates that initially six of its Irish dealers will take on the new commercial vehicle products. “We’ll then let it grow organically from there,” he said. “In our network we have dealers with past experience in selling vans, so we will probably turn to them first.”
As to the potential to offer regular diesel or hybrid variants of the vehicle, Kia says its committed to its EV-only commercial vehicle plan right now.
Despite the global trade turmoil and unstable EV sales, Kia seems determined to remain steadfast on the strategic course.
While Song was reluctant to comment on the implications of proposed US tariff, his colleague Spencer Cho, head of the global business planning subdivision, pointed out that Kia exports its products to approximately 190 countries, so it must manage a lot of complex trading environments.
“We live in a time of super uncertainty and not only the US, but a number of European countries are considering ways to protect their own industries.
“We have to rethink about how we can coexist. It seems to me that nowadays the US, and some European countries too, are seeking to survive on their own. I think this will create much bigger problems that we might not appreciate right now.”
For now, though, Kia is determined to continue on its EV journey.
