Kia has confirmed further details on its Plan S electrification strategy. The Korean brand has focused its efforts on the growing EV market and confirmed its ambition to launch seven new dedicated electric cars by 2027. The brand hopes that, by 2029, battery electric vehicles will account for 25 per cent of its sales.
Kia’s planned line-up of EVs are previewed by this shadowy teaser image – and the range looks to be far-reaching, suggesting that a full-sized SUV, a family hatchback and what looks to be a rakish shooting brake estate are all in the pipeline. At the forefront of the teaser is the firm’s soon-to-be unveiled coupe-SUV, which is internally known as the CV.
Such a line-up would make Kia very well-placed to compete with the current largest electric vehicle brands, Tesla and Volkswagen. Both brands will soon corner the upper and lower ends of the market, with Tesla due to bolster its entry-level range with the Model Y and Volkswagen set to expand into the premium market with the ID.6 SUV.
Kia has all but confirmed that its future electric vehicle line-up will be based on the Hyundai Group’s latest E-GMP underpinnings. The platform features similar 800-volt technology to the Porsche Taycan, which is compatible with the latest 350kW fast-charging network – and Kia recently announced that the architecture is scalable, meaning it can easily be stretched or shrunk to suit a wide variety of vehicles.
In addition the range of battery electric vehicles, Kia also plans to release a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle by 2025. No further information has been released yet, but sister company Hyundai currently produces the Nexo: a mid-size SUV with a 414-mile range.
Kia also aims to prop up electric vehicle infrastructure, in an effort to make its planned range of EVs more usable on a day-to-day basis. The firm is currently working on installing 2,400 chargers around Europe. In Korea, Kia says it will expand its chain of dedicated electric vehicle service centres to 1,200 by 2030.
The company’s CEO, Ho Sung Song, commented: “Kia has sold more than 100,000 BEVs worldwide since the introduction of our first mass-produced BEV in 2011 – the Kia Ray EV. Since then, we have started to introduce a range of new BEVs for global markets and announced plans to accelerate this process in the years ahead.”
Read our in-depth review of the award-winning Kia e-Niro right here...
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