At its Investor Day in 2022, the company will have 14 fully electric models and sales of 1.2 million electric vehicles. The EV9 SUV, unveiled in concept form last November at the LA Auto Show, will be the first to use automated driving tech.
A plan to introduce seven electric vehicles by 2027 is one of the plans in the roadmap. The company plans to double that with 14 BEV models and 1.2 million EV sales by the year 2030. It also projects to sell 4 million vehicles annually by 2030, so EV would make up just over a quarter of that, while Mercedes-Benz only plans to sell BEVs by that time.
The plan is to increase BEV sales by five times to 807,000 units in 2026 and 1.2 million by 2030. At least two new electric vehicles will be introduced annually. The company said that there will be a dedicated electric pickup truck and a strategic model for emerging markets.
The EV9 SUV will be the flagship electric vehicle by the year 2023. The concept version it teased last year had squared-off Range Rover-ish lines, a massive 27 inch display, and a yoke that looked like a transformer. It will be around 5 meters long, accelerate to 100 km/h in five seconds, and travel 540 km on a charge, while giving you an extra 100 km of range.
The EV9 will offer over the air (OTA) and FoD services for the first time, allowing owners to easily update their vehicle's software. After that, Automode will be rapidly expanded throughout its lineup.
You might ask about Automode. All we know so far is that it will include aHighway Driving Pilot feature that works by itself without driver intervention on highway sections. As the technology develops, it will be improved. It sounds like at least Level 3 self-driving, something still only available from a few automakers, so we will have to see how that goes for Kia.
In its press release, the company gives more information about how and where it will sell hybrid and EV models. Over the past year, it has changed its plans substantially, and is likely to do so again. In February, 2,126 units of the EV6 were sold, and the reviews were generally positive.
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