Kia has released partial images of the first in a planned stable of nine new electric vehicles (EVs). It’s the first part of a reimagining of the brand, which began with a new logo in January.
Called the EV6, the new car appears] to be a low, sleek hatchback or crossover SUV. Though heavily shadowed, the pictures seem to show a four-door model.
The vehicle is built on the E-GMP platform, which Kia shares with Hyundai. Like most electric cars, it packs the batteries, motors, and almost all moving parts beneath a flat floor. That gives designers great leeway in creating the exterior form of the car.
The EV6 is the second vehicle we’ve seen built on the E-GMP platform. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 was the first. There isn’t a common design language between the two, but they do show that the Korean automaker is giving its designers free rein to explore unusual shapes and give the cars great personality. Neither looks much like the cars it shares a badge with.
The Ioniq 5, for instance, has boxy lighting elements inspire by 8-bit video games, and diagonal creases cutting blunt curves that look like nothing else on the road. The shadows hide a lot, but what we can see of the EV6 suggests it will also be a dramatic-looking vehicle. Muscular fender flares, a bulging hood, and a unique rear lighting element that appears to stretch the entire width of the car and form a sort of a second wing.
Kia says we’ll get more details on March 15. Though we can’t be certain, we expect that they’ll closely mirror those of the Ioniq 5. It comes with either a single, 215-horsepower rear motor and rear-wheel drive, or a two-motor setup making 302 horsepower in all-wheel drive.
