Like many other automakers, Kia is betting big on battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and has released its latest business strategy that will see seven new BEVs be launched by 2027. According to Kia president and CEO Ho Sung Song, the company expects BEVs to account for 25% of its global vehicle sales by 2029.
The first of the seven new all-electric Kia models – currently codenamed “CV” – will arrive in 2021, and serves to set the design direction for others that come after it. Kia wasn’t very keen on providing more details, merely saying that the new model “will offer the same competitive product quality and eye-catching design as Kia’s other vehicles, with high-performance driving and recharging characteristics.”
We don’t know what body style the CV will take on, but it should be one of the seven you see in the attached sketch. Given the popularity of SUVs these days, and seeing how most of the vehicles illustrated appear as such, a high-riding vehicle should be the most likely candidate. Other vehicles seen in the sketch include a sedan and possibly a hatchback.
“Kia has sold more than 100,000 BEVs worldwide since the introduction of our first mass-produced BEV in 2011, the Kia Ray EV,” said Song. “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. By refocusing our business on electrification, we are aiming for BEVs to account for 25% of our total worldwide sales by 2029,” he added.
Aside from introducing new products, Kia will also partner with EV charging companies to ensure the infrastructure is in place for its customers in selected markets. This is part of its “Plan S” mid- to long-term future strategy that was revealed at the start of 2021.
The automaker aims to supply 1,500 EV chargers by 2030 in Korea alone, with 120 fast chargers due by 2021 in urban centres and along 12 highways linking eight provinces across the country. For Europe, it plans to establish more than 2,400 EV chargers and around 500 in North America, partnering with dealers in those regions.
It also plans to increase the number of dedicated EV work bays in Korea to 1,200 by 2030. In other markets, 600 EV work bays will be readied by the end of this year, with more than 2,000 expected by 2023.
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