Author: EVAI

• Kia hasn’t yet confirmed EV3 or EV4 for the U.S.—but we might get both
• Unclear if EV3 arrives, whether Niro EV would continue
• Kia PV5 WKNDR electric camper van is a test for U.S. interest

The future of compact EVs for Kia in the U.S. could be as simple as this: It doesn’t have to be an either/or.

And that might mean that U.S. EV shoppers could get the more interesting compact EV market that America has been largely missing out on—thanks to the possibility of Kia’s EV3 and EV4. 

In October 2023, at its Kia EV Day event, the brand revealed the upright EV3 compact electric crossover, which is close to the same size as the Volvo EX30, and the somewhat longer, lower EV4 compact electric hatchback. At the same event, it also showed a production version of the EV5 electric crossover, which is sized closely with the Kia Sportage, Honda CR-V, and Toyota RAV4. 

While Kia was quick at that time to say that the EV5 was not U.S.-bound, it left the door open for the EV3 and EV4. 

Kia EV4 concept

The production EV4 is expected to bow globally within the next few months. But Kia has already, since last year’s event, shown the production-bound EV3, with deliveries of it starting earlier this month in Europe. Amid that, there hasn’t yet been a U.S.-market confirmation for either the EV3 or the EV4. 

Last week, at the Los Angeles auto show, Green Car Reports asked Kia America chief operating officer and executive vice president Steven Center which of these two EVs we might see.

“We may see both,” replied Center. “And I think that’s just a matter of segment management.”

Center elaborated that these are two quite different EVs, referring to the EV4 as an electric equivalent to the K5 sedan, and the EV3 as “sort of a Soul EV.”

2023 Kia Niro EV

Whether that means borrowed time for the Kia Niro EV, which Kia opted to bring to the U.S. instead of the current Soul EV, Center wouldn’t say for sure—but he hinted that Niro EV is built on an internal combustion platform, and it’s the second-generation of a vehicle that was conceived when the company’s E-GMP EV platform didn’t exist. 

Center also noted that at some point soon, Kia will have two lines of vehicles—an internal combustion line, including hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and one that’s pure EV. 

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. Kia EV models will continue to grow over the next year, confirmed Center. Whether that means EV3, EV4, PV5, or something else completely—or a reference to the higher-power Kia EV9 GT also revealed at the show—rest assured it’s not sidelining its EV push in 2025. 

Kia PV5 WKNDR concept

Kia PV5 WKNDR concept

Kia PV5 WKNDR concept

For a tease of what that something else might be, Kia showed what we interpreted as a wild card at the LA show. Its upcoming PV5 electric van may primarily be focused toward commercial use and future robotaxis, the company has said up until now. But the recent debut of the PV5 WKNDR electric camper van concept at the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas earlier this month, together with its prominent display at the LA auto show, beg another question. 

Is the brand getting ready to pitch the electric vans in the U.S. as compact, activity-focused alternatives to the Volkswagen ID.Buzz—or, perhaps, even more in line with the original ethos of the cult-favorite Honda Element?

Kia America vice president for marketing Russell Wager replied to GCR, also at the LA auto show, that PV5 remains confirmed only for Korea and Europe, and the purpose behind the SEMA concept was to test American customers’ reactions to “more of an overlander concept.”

“So we’re still evaluating what that means, potentially, for the U.S. market,” said Wager.

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• VW sees no need for multi-speed transmissions in EVs
• It tested a manual transmission for performance EVs
  
• More efficient EVs might be more expensive, VW says

It seems Volkswagen won’t be following Porsche or Mercedes-Benz.

On Thursday at the 2024 Los Angeles auto show Kai Grünitz, head of global research and development for Volkswagen, told Green Car Reports that the automaker doesn’t see a need for 2-speed transmissions in EVs.

Grünitz said that “today there is no plan to produce it,” but the executive quickly noted that’s “because there’s no demand from the customer side,” for multi-speed transmissions in EVs.

Grünitz then said that “there’s no reason to invest in that” if there’s no demand from customers.

“To be honest, when you look for example to ID.7, it’s one of the most efficient cars,” Stefan Voswinkel, head of product communications for VW, added.

“We are best in class in that segment,” Grünitz said, referring to the VW ID.7, which has been delayed indefinitely for the U.S. and, like other EVs using VW’s MEB architecture for EVs, uses a single-speed reduction gear. 

Grünitz noted there are other possibilities to reduce or to increase efficiencies outside of multi-speed transmissions, and it’s “most important coming from the engine side,” he said.

“There are a lot of little screws you can use to improve efficiency without going to the transmission,” Grünitz said.

2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI 380

This is all despite the fact that Grünitz admitted Volkswagen’s created a manual transmission for EVs, and that he’s tested it—and didn’t like it. While that unit would have been for an enthusiast vehicle like an electric GTI, the executive said he likes the smoothness of EVs that comes with a single-speed transmission.

The upcoming 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class, the first vehicle from the automaker to arrive on the next-generation MMA platform, will use a 2-speed transmission. Mercedes executives noted that efficiency is the new currency. “Hopefully it will become a new currency,” said Grünitz. “I think it’s not today.”

Grünitz said no one is really talking about efficiency. When pressed on the topic because Lucid, among other automakers, is quite vocal about the topic, Grünitz noted it’s not being discussed at the consumer level, and asked: “Why don’t we see these discussions at our customers?”

Grünitz noted before his handlers pulled him away that making vehicles even more efficient would make vehicles more expensive.

• Kia says Tasman pickup revealed in Oct. isn’t for U.S. market
• Brand hasn’t decided on a U.S.-bound Kia electric pickup
• Push toward more hybrids and PHEVs may show the direction in a truck

Kia is still considering a pickup for the U.S., but whether that amounts to a gasoline-fueled truck or an EV remains to be determined, according to two top U.S. executives for the brand at the Los Angeles auto show last week.

In either case, that pickup won’t be the Tasman, which was revealed in October and is intended initially for Australia, Africa, and the Middle East.

The Tasman, an old-style body-on-frame gasoline midsize pickup with a live rear axle and an available diesel engine, has a polished cabin look but otherwise fits the mold of a workhorse. 

“Tasman is not for this market,” Kia chief operating officer and executive VP Steven Center said on Thursday to Green Car Reports in an interview at the show. But that doesn’t mean there might be a different gasoline truck that’s a possibility, the executive explained. 

2025 Kia EV9

Meanwhile, the Kia electric pickup previously confirmed as under development, and sharing some of its underpinnings with the EV9, isn’t a shoo-in for America either. 

“We still haven’t decided we’re bringing it,” top Kia America marketing executive Russell Wager said in a separate LA show interview, adding that the electric truck remains “a possibility.”

The hesitation may have something to do with how such a truck would be positioned. In 2022, when the brand first confirmed the Kia electric pickup project globally, Wager told Green Car Reports that in order for it to make sense for North America such a model would need to be positioned as an upscale electric truck, not a high-value model with a low price. 

Kia EV teaser

Factor in what’s increasingly looking like a market saturation of high-price fully electric pickup entries, and it may be easy to see why Kia’s cautious in this area. The high-end electric truck market has grown and includes models from Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Rivian, and Tesla—with upscale electric trucks from Ram and VW’s Scout brand also on the way. 

Further clouding the picture was a piece of news from the South Korean business publication Pulse that broke last week around the time of our LA auto show interview: Hyundai Motor Group and General Motors are reportedly pursuing the joint development of an affordable pickup truck for Latin America, and perhaps beyond. Under the memorandum of understanding this is built on, GM and Hyundai are also collaborating on EV and hydrogen tech, and sourcing, but it’s unclear whether the pieces might fit together. 

The answer, for Kia and a U.S-bound pickup, may lie somewhere in the middle, between a fully electric truck and a throwback like the Tasman—and perhaps involving a long-rumored product related to the Hyundai Santa Cruz, from its corporate cousin. Kia plans to add more plug-in hybrids and hybrids to the lineup—with more models, sales volume, and electric range, even perhaps a modest EV layout with a range extender. Any of those options might give Kia and its customers some of the up-front value the truck market is missing right now. 

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• Kia is serious about boosting PHEV electric miles—and sales
• It’s still working on hybrid, ICE development
• Range-extended EVs could be the future of hybrids

While Kia works to expand sales of American-made EVs, it’s also aiming to broaden sales of hybrids, while expanding a plug-in hybrid lineup that may keep growing—not just in sales but in electric miles. 

According to Steven Center, Kia America’s chief operating officer and executive vice president, the plug-in hybrid electric range to meet or beat is 60 miles. 

That number, said Center to Green Car Reports last week at the Los Angeles auto show, may arrive in Kia production models in as little as “a couple years”—enabled by a number of factors including the continuous improvement of batteries, as well as upcoming vehicle platforms that are being laid out to allow more space for PHEV battery packs. 

A PHEV with 60 miles of electric range would be a big jump from present numbers. Kia revealed refreshed 2026 Sportage hybrid and plug-in hybrid models at the auto show. Currently, the Sportage plug-in hybrid comes EPA-rated at 34 miles, and 35 mpg combined after that. That’s for the 2024 model; outputs are up slightly for 2025 and it’s unclear as of yet whether that and the refresh might alter those numbers. 

2025 Kia Sportage

Center didn’t elaborate about which models might get the long-range PHEV treatment first, but he noted that the 60-mile figure was informed by an “engineering statistic” relating to the total daily-driving distance for Americans—enough to be an EV in daily driving, plus more for road trips. 

That happens to be very close to California’s target of 70 miles of electric range that serves as a way automakers can earn bonus points in upcoming fleet standards. 

California does mandate EVs, but in the push toward them it’s allowing automakers some added flexibility, starting with the 2026 model year, if they deliver plug-in hybrids with more range. In short, they can apply plug-in hybrid models certified at 70 miles of electric range or higher at the same fleet-credit value as an EV, while PHEVs rated at 43-69 miles qualify at a partial value of an EV. 

It’s quite the engineering challenge in itself right now to get there. A top Nissan executive for product planning in North America told Green Car Reports earlier this year that to achieve 70 miles of plug-in electric range, the necessary 30- to 40-kwh battery packs remain prohibitively large and heavy. But next-generation batteries will bring down the size and weight and be easier to package. 

2023 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid

Center reiterated the benefits of battery improvements. Kia also continues to develop internal-combustion engines, but it’s mainly in the context of hybrid systems. For instance, according to Center, it’s considering extended range EV tech, although it’s not yet confirmed in any future vehicle from the brand. In a series-hybrid layout with the engine running as an efficient onboard generator, this type of application might warrant an entirely new kind of engine.

For instance, on the pickup front, Ram has been working on that formula, and it’s on the way next year in the 1500 Ramcharger truck. Ram claims that it will be able to get to about 145 miles of electric range with a 92-kwh battery pack and the Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6 engine that it’s put in base-level pickups for years, put to task here only as a generator—amounting to 14,000 pounds of towing capacity and 690 miles considering an initial battery charge and full tank of gas. 

While some automakers continue to see plug-in hybrids as a confusing middle ground—including examples like that Ram truck—Kia isn’t holding back in plans to emphasize them over the next few years especially.

2025 Kia Sportage Hybrid

The brand is aiming to have more of them, said Center of PHEVs, calling them “the gateway drug for electrification.”

Kia is currently selling its plug-in hybrids in all 50 states, and it’s already pushed for its dealerships to be not just EV-savvy, but plug-in-hybrid-savvy. Kia Motors America marketing director Russell Wager told Green Car Reports that it’s not an easy message for dealerships to deliver—that plug-in hybrids can go 30 or 35 miles of electric range without running the gasoline engine—but it’s already done some of this hard work.

Kia isn’t naming target volumes or percentages for its hybrid vehicles, Wager asserted. “We don’t have a goal; and the reason we don’t have a goal is the customer is going to determine.”

2024 Kia Niro

“That’s why we have three choices, so that if the customers are saying we want more hybrids, we’ll build more hybrids,” Wager explained, pointing to the flexibility not only built into the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant in Georgia that will source some upcoming Kia vehicles, but to Kia’s West Point, Georgia, plant, where the majority of Sportage production will happen—and to Korea, where additional hybrids can come from if need be.

“We’re working on the supply chain to increase what we need for hybrids,” said Center. “Customers want them, dealers will have no trouble selling them, and it’s better for the environment.”

And thus, whatever new path regulators hand to the auto industry, come January or next year, the flexibility is helping Kia look very prepared.

• Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe sees few compelling sub-$50k EVs
• Scaringe is amused by the interest in Scout
• CEO believes it’s important to have a variety of EV choices

“The world doesn’t need another one of those,” said Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, referring to Tesla.

“We think Tesla has done an amazing job,” said Scaringe, during a roundtable session last Wednesday with Green Car Reports and other media outlets. “It’s a great brand; they have great products.”

The top Rivian executive noted that he’s had both a Model 3 and Y, but seemingly every competitor is chasing after them.

The upcoming Rivian R2 will aim squarely for the market the Tesla Model Y occupies, but in a different visual form factor that is much more like that of a traditional SUV. It’s set to arrive in 2026 with batteries from Arizona from LG.

Scaringe went on to say that there are “less than five highly compelling choices” in the EV market for under $50,000. With EVs at less than 10% of the market that includes “a choice” that’s bar-setting—the Model Y.

Suppliers fear a world of Tesla owning 65% of the EV market forever, as Tesla’ massive scale drives their “supply chain wonderfully aggressively,” Scaringe said, which is hard on suppliers.

Scout is owned by Volkswagen, which just invested $5.8 billion into Rivian as part of a joint venture, and so the CEO was asked about the upcoming Scout EVs.

“I’m amused by how much interest there is in Scout,” said Scaringe, later adding: “I think it’s great to see another choice.”