Kia WV2 will be built in Slovakia.
15 Oct 2023 | 3975 Views | By Autocar India News Desk
Kia has begun work on an entry-level EV2 city hatch that will see the light of day in 2026. The model will first go on sale in Europe, followed by other markets. The new machine, which was confirmed at the company's first EV Day event in Seoul, South Korea, will ...
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Kia has begun work on an entry-level EV2 city hatch that will see the light of day in 2026. The model will first go on sale in Europe, followed by other markets. The new machine, which was confirmed at the company's first EV Day event in Seoul, South Korea, will follow the EV3 small SUV, EV4 saloon and EV5 family SUV, which will all go on sale within the next three years.
The Kia EV2, alongwith the EV3, EV4 and EV5, will join the existing EV6 and flagship EV9 in Kia’s global range of born-electric cars using Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP platform. They will be key to the firm’s ambition to reach 1.6 million EV sales annually by 2030.
It will be designed with a focus on the European market and manufactured at Kia’s plant in Slovakia. The production version of the EV3 will arrive next year, with the EV5 going on sale in 2025. The EV4 will follow in 2026 – when the smaller EV2 will also launch.
The European focus and name imply it is likely to be a small B-segment machine. That could suggest a hatch, although given the popularity of SUVs and Kia’s focus on them in its EV line-up to date, it is likely to have some rugged crossover design cues.
Kia has not disclosed any technical information, although it will sit on the same E-GMP platform as the other bespoke EV models. That means it would be technically possibly for it to have single- and twin-motor powertrains, although given the packing challenges of a smaller car and the more urban-focused driving of likely buyers, a twin-motor set-up is uncertain.
The EV3, EV4 and EV5 will all use a new version of the E-GMP modular architecture that runs at 400V, in part to keep costs down, and this version is also likely to be used for the EV2. As a result, it wouldn’t be capable of ultra-fast charging, although this is unlikely to be a major requirement of family buyers travelling shorter distances.
Notably, the EV2 will get a hot GT version: the firm had previously said it would offer a performance-led GT variant of every model in its EV line-up, and an official told Autocar UK that was still the intention, noting the popularity of performance cars with European buyers.
Kia currently sells the EV6 here and the EV9 flagship is due in India next year. A mass-market EV model from the brand, likely a Carens EV will go on sale in India by 2025.
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