Kia has revealed the Concept EV5 electric SUV, which previews a smaller sibling to the recently revealed EV9.
Unveiled as part of Kia’s Chinese EV Day, the production EV5 will initially be released in the Chinese market later this year.
Kia says that details on the global availability of the EV5 “will be made in due course.”
The company says the concept EV5 gives us a glimpse at the aesthetic and design direction the brand intends to pursue in all of its future electric models.
The EV5 concept has ambitious interior elements which Kia say will create a relaxing cabin that blurs the boundaries between interior and outdoors.
These elements include carbon doors which open on the rear hinges to reveal swivel seats equipped for a multitude of configurations, as well as a panoramic sunroof which doubles as a solar panel.
“The Kia Concept EV5 takes influence from the contrast and complementarity of natural landscapes and man-made architecture… the SUV brings together emotional form language with innovative, user-focused interior architecture,” said Kia executive vice president Karim Habib, the head of the company’s global design centre.
While these are concept elements, the EV9 does have similar swivel seats in its cabin and this is a feature that could be integrated into the production version of the EV5.
The exterior follows the same design cues as the EV9, with the ‘Digital Tiger Face’ which features two clusters of small cube lights adjacent to each headlight.
While the two-row EV9 is naturally shorter than the three-row EV9, it shares similarly chunky, squared-off lines.
Since the EV5 concept car represents Kia’s sustainable ambitions, plant-based materials feature such as seaweed extract and upcycled PET bottles on the seats, doors, and dashboard, as an alternative to animal leather.
As the name suggests, the EV5 will likely sit below the sleeker EV6 crossover in the Kia range.
While Kia hasn’t released the concept’s dimensions, it appears to be a mid-sized SUV like the combustion-powered Sportage.
Though still to be confirmed by Kia, it can be assumed that the EV5 will run on the same E-GMP electric platform as the rest of the Kia range.
The Hyundai Group’s E-GMP platform, which already underpins the EV6 and the related Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 and Genesis GV60, enables fast charging with its 800V electrical architecture, and offers multiple battery-pack options, and single- and dual-motor configurations.
The EV5, along with the EV9, is part of the seven-strong range of all-electric models Kia plans to launch before 2027.
The EV9 is joining the EV6 and Niro EV in Kia’s local EV line-up later this year, with 400 examples allocated to Australia for 2023.
Kia has previously said it’s aiming for 25 per cent of its global sales volume to come from electric vehicles by 2029.
