Kia bosses believe a focus on reducing the barriers to entry for EV adoption – particularly concerns about price and charging – and the adoption of a regionalised approach will be key to meeting its ambitious goal of becoming a ‘global leader’ in electric cars.
The Korean firm has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to the success of its rebrand and new electric models. Now, it is aiming to grow its global EV sales from a target of around 258,000 this year to one million (about 25% of its total sales) by 2026 and 1.6 million (37% of its total) by 2030.
Kia boss Ho-sung Song said: “The transition to electrification is a must, not an option.” But he noted there are still significant challenges in achieving that.
He said: “Even with the global EV market growing rapidly, the vast majority of buyers are still ‘early adopters’. Mainstream consumers are still behind. We think there are two big barriers for consumers: high prices and charging concerns.”
Notably, a key part of Kia’s growth in recent years has come from the Kia Niro EV, which has found success by offering similar size, range and features to more premium-priced rivals. That approach will be reflected in the next models from Kia’s range of bespoke EVs.
Kia's comprehensive line-up
The first two in that line-up, the Kia EV6 and Kia EV9, are both large models intended to serve as ‘conquest cars’, winning over new buyers among those early adopters.
But Kia has now shown three smaller B- and C-segment models: the EV3 small SUV, EV4 saloon and EV5 family SUV. These will arrive in the UK and mainland Europe in the next three years, priced from around £27,000 to £40,000. Song also confirmed a smaller, European-focused sub-£25,000 Kia EV2 is on the way in 2026.
That range of models is intended to have broader appeal, particularly in the European market, where EV adoption is relatively advanced. In emerging markets, where take-up of EVs is slower, Kia will again initially focus on the EV6 and EV9 for early adopters. But it is working on developing a range of ‘strategic’ regional models that will be focused on and produced in emerging markets and, like the EV2, be pitched at below £25,000.
While rivals such as Renault and Volkswagen are working on sub-£20,000 models, Song said: “We still have some homework in how to achieve $25,000 [£20,000] but this is what we continue to discuss and study.”
He added that models at that lower price would eventually be needed “to widen the scope of customer accessibility”.
Kia's flexible global strategy
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