Kia boss confirms the car maker is working on an electric version of Australia’s most affordable new car – the city-sized Kia Picanto – and is studying an electric successor to its flagship Stinger sports car, too.
Australia’s cheapest new car is set to go electric, after Kia’s president confirmed the car maker is working on a city-sized electric car as part of a full-line of electric vehicles, also including a flagship sports car – a successor to the Stinger – by 2027.
British publication Autocar has reported Kia president Ho-sung Song saying the car maker is working on a city-sized electric car to either replace or sit alongside the current petrol-powered Kia Picanto.
“Our next target is an EV model starting from €30,000 [$AU49,500],” the Kia president told Autocar.
“This is what we’re preparing to offer customers. Still, we think we need sub-€25,000 [sub-$AU41,200] in our EV [electric vehicle] cars and maybe we can leverage around €20,000 [$AU33,000]. But that cannot happen in the next two years.”
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The cheapest electric vehicle of any kind currently in Australian showrooms is the MG ZS EV SUV which was given a price cut to $34,990 drive-away in August 2024.
The most affordable city-sized electric hatch is the GWM Ora, priced at $35,990 drive-away, measuring 4235mm long and 1825mm wide.
The current third-generation Picanto has been on sale in Australia since 2019 – with a significant facelift in 2023 – and holds more than 90 per cent share year-to-date in the ‘micro’ car segment, being significantly smaller than the Ora at 3595mm long and 1595mm wide.
The cheapest new car of any type in Australian showrooms, the Picanto Sport is priced from $17,890 plus on-road costs and uses a 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a manual transmission – with an automatic version starting at $19,490 before on-road costs.
Not expected before 2027, the Picanto-sized city car would not carry on the name but instead follow the brand’s naming pattern to be called ‘EV1’ – having trademarked EV1 through EV9, with the EV9 SUV the brand’s largest electric offering.
While Kia has not officially confirmed the EV1 name, it has publicised plans to introduce the EV2 electric hatchback in 2026 to sit below the five-seat Seltos-sized EV3 SUV due in Australia – at an estimated price of less than $50,000 – in early 2025.
The Kia EV5 electric SUV – a Tesla Model Y rival – is planned for Australian showrooms as soon as October 2024 after its planned June 2024 launch was delayed.
The Kia boss has previously confirmed every dedicated electric Kia will be offered with a GT variant – which would include the electric city-sized hatch.
There is also a dedicated performance model in the works, Ho-sung Song telling Autocar Kia is ‘studying’ an electric follow-up to the driver-focussed Kia Stinger rear-wheel drive performance model – last sold in Australia in January 2024 – to act as a halo model for the car maker.
Previous reports suggested the Stinger replacement could be under development using the codename ‘GT1’, but a trademark filing of the Stinger name in December 2023 – after the petrol version’s demise – protects the name until 2033 for potential re-use.
Arriving as soon as 2026, it could use the E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform) underpinning the EV6 through EV9 electric Kias, with the capability to offer all-wheel drive, high-powered dual-motor electric powertrains with as much as 450kW.
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