Despite ambitious early sales targets of 10,000 units annually, Kia has revised its goals for the EV5 before the electric SUV’s showroom debut.
Kia Australia CEO, Damien Meredith, says it’s more realistic for the brand to now be targeting 400 EV5 sales per month – totalling 4800 units annually – as a result of “the way the market is”.
For context, Tesla has sold 16,697 Model Y units to the end of September this year, averaging around 1855 sales per month. That’s despite Tesla’s 19.08 per cent reduction in sales year-to-date, reflecting a stagnation in the Australian electric vehicle (EV) market.
That same cooling of EV demand is the reason behind Kia’s revised targets for the EV5, which were already down on Tesla’s figures at its original 850 per month projection.
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Mr Meredith says the original target of 10,000 EV5 sales annually is no longer achievable as a result of the current state of EV sales in Australia.
“We’d [now] be looking at around 400 a month. That’s coming back significantly, but I think it’ll be realistic about the market, so that’s where we are,” he says.
When asked if the changing demand for EVs was concerning Mr Meredith said he “wouldn’t say it’s scary; it’s challenging”.
“There’s no question about that. We have look at all the variables out there in play in regards to NVES [New Vehicle Efficiency Standard], competition, and what we want to do as a brand in regards to our global plan,” he says.
“There’s a lot of variables out there that we have to look at and that we have to encounter, so it’s not scary, but definitely challenging.”
Kia Australia previously claimed it aimed to import up to 850 EV5s every month – a figure which would’ve put it on track to challenge the BYD Atto 3, which last year averaged 920 deliveries per month.
Mr Meredith maintains that if demand increases, EV5 supply would be capable of catering for prospective buyers.
“I don’t think that’ll be a huge problem, [especially with] the way things are going globally,” he says.
Kia isn’t the first brand to have softened its EV plans due to a claimed reduction in demand.
Stellantis announced earlier this month that it would extend the production halt on its Fiat 500e city car, citing a lack of demand for the quirky EV globally.
Numerous European brands have also walked back their goals to switch to all-electric model lineups, citing difficulties in the shift towards EVs globally.
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