South Korean car manufacturer Kia has revealed its new EV plan; the company will have 14 fully electric vehicles in its global listing by the year 2027. The manufacturer has said that it has the aim of reaching 4 million annual global sales by 2030. Over 2 million units of these are estimated to be eco-friendly cars, out of which an estimated 1.2 million units are going to be fully electric cars.
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The new action plan
This new plan of action was announced during the 2022 CEO Investor Day meet, and it is much more rigorous than Kia’s older plan that was revealed last year which was to have 11 fully electric cars by 2026. The three added car models are going to be two electric pickup trucks and an entry-level EV. Pickup trucks are immensely popular in the North American market, so it is a strategic move by Kia to add them to its future plans.
A notable fact is that the car company Hyundai is working on an entry-level EV for the Indian market and the model’s expected release is 2024. The EV will most probably be sold in other international markets too. Kia will utilize this constructed market space to launch its very own entry-level EV, which will arrive a little later than Hyundai’s version.
Kia will focus on three key pillars
Kia’s main focus is on three key pillars – people, planet, and profit – with the aim of becoming a “sustainable mobility solutions provider”. The company is planning to invest 28 trillion won (around USD 23.17 billion) in total over the coming five years in its EV business. The South Korean company has the goal of being a leader in the global PBV (Purpose Built Vehicles) market.
Kia’s PBV
The company’s first dedicated PBV will be revealed in the year 2025, as per a modular skateboard EV platform. In 2022, Kia will launch a PBV version of Niro EV, named Niro Plus. This car model will be designed for cab-hailing and taxi services.
Kia EV9
In the year 2023, Kia EV9 is going to go on sale internationally. It will be the company’s first vehicle with autonomous driving technology, named AutoMode. This tech of the same is going to be made available in other models in major international markets by the year 2026. EV9 is going to be a big SUV. The model will be around 5 metres in length – with a maximum driving range of around 540 km (336 miles).