Kia EV5 News

Top EVs for first-time electric car buyers.

Kia has revealed its new path to global EV domination.The South Korean brand debuted several new models and hinted at even more at its recent EV Day.It took the covers off its Tesla Model 3 and BYD Seal rivalling EV4 sedan, which also has the added bonus of being offered as a hatchback.Kia debuted the PV5 van and people mover alongside its European-focused EV2 small SUV.These cars are all due shortly and will join the EV3 compact SUV, EV5 mid-size SUV, EV6 coupe SUV and the EV9 seven-seat SUV in its global line-up.Kia Australia has committed to the EV4, and would like the PV5 but has not confirmed its availability yet. The EV2 is off the cards as it is built in Slovakia and the business case for an affordable European-sourced EV doesn’t stack up.The company’s president Ho Sung Song, also let slip that a micro EV1 electric car is essential to mass adoption of its EVs.“If we want to move to the late majority customer target group, definitely we need a lower size of model – or a lower-price model – and we are internally studying what will be our entry EV models, apart from our EV2,” said Song.“Maybe next EV Day, we’ll show you what we are planning.”This could mean an electric version of the pint-sized Picanto hatchback, which would be a direct rival to budget EVs such as the BYD Seagull that is sold overseas but not Australia.Kia would be targeting the sub-$30,000 range if it wanted to be competitive at the lower end of the market.This line-up, with the addition of the EV1, puts Kia well ahead of Tesla — currently the world largest EV maker — and would put it on a collision course with the surging BYD.Kia has a distinct advantage, though.Tesla has ruled out smaller and more affordable cars and BYD is locked out of the US market and is hamstrung by tariffs in Europe.

Kia has teased its incoming electric liftback sedan, the EV4, ahead of its official unveiling at Kia EV day in Spain on February 27.

A new world order is forming in the electric car segment in Australia.Tesla and BYD might not be the mighty forces they once were as two EV princes wait in the wings to snatch the crown.The Tesla Model Y, which was streets ahead of the rest in sales through 2024, has come back to the pack.Tesla sales were down 33 per cent in January, following a more than 16 per cent drop in 2024.It shifted just 465 Model Ys and 274 Model 3s. The Model Y was still the best selling electric car in Australia in January but it was down on its usual performance of more than 1500 a month in 2024.An updated version of the Model Y is due in coming months, but it will be significantly more expensive. The current version will likely be in short supply until that point meaning it could give others a head start in the EV sales race.BYD sales also fell off a cliff in January down almost 50 per cent. Sales of its plug-in hybrid Sealion 6 SUV kept the brand afloat but EV sales were down dramatically with the Atto 3 down 77.4 per cent, Dolphin down 66.8 per cent and Seal down 91.2 per cent.Recent port issues are likely to blame for part of the slow sales, but the brand has also announced new cheaper variants of the Dolphin and Atto 3 to boost sales.Surely it's just a blip on the radar and both brands will roar back in the coming months, but what if they don't reach the same EV heights as before?This could open the opportunity for the Kia EV5 and MG4 electric cars to have a crack at the Model Y’s crown.The MG4 was the second best selling EV in January with 440 sales and the EV5 was third with 289.A big selling point for the MG and Kia are their warranties: MG has a 10 year/250,000km guarantee and Kia has a seven year/unlimited km security blanket. Both easily trump Tesla’s four year/80,000km warranty.Both also sell through a conventional dealer model rather than a majority online portal like BYD and Tesla.Both the MG4 and EV5 are both built in China, same as the Australian delivered Teslas, which give them the same price, supply and short shipping advantage as the market leaders.Australians also now have far more choice in the electric car space compared to 12 months ago. A wave of new brands from China include Deepal, Geely, Leapmotor, XPeng and Zeekr, which all launched with Model Y sized alternatives cheaper than their big name rival.Those brands — with the exception of Leapmotor — don't yet report sales.Conventional car makers have started to bring their own EVs online to help dilute the market that was very concentrated on just a few brands a year ago.The chances are Tesla will rebound in the coming months from its January sales, in what is a traditionally slow month for the brand.Kia is unlikely to muster the 25,000 EV5 sales needed to claim the top spot with the brand predicting a run rate of 400 a month in 2025.MG on the other hand has shown it is willing to heavily discount the MG4 to boost sales.For a short period it was the cheapest electric car on sale during 2024, with the base model costing just a smidge more than $30,000 drive-away. The price cut saw MG4s fly off the lot, outselling both Tesla models combined in October 2024.This year will be a challenge for many of the large electric car sellers as cost of living pressures bite and the well has run dry of early adopters willing to pay overs for the zero-emissions tech.

Kia has confirmed its most affordable and compact electric car yet, the EV2, is on track for a global launch in January 2026.The date was confirmed during Kia’s Q4 investors announcement last week in which it also reported an 11.5 per cent rise in year-on-year profit, partly driven by a 10.9 per cent increase in global EV deliveries of its EV3, EV5, EV6 and EV9 models.But unlike its South Korean and Chinese-made siblings, production of the EV2 will take place in Slovakia, where it has already been spotted testing under heavy camouflage by The Korean Carblog.Few details of the EV2's design have been given away aside from the fact that it appears to be a boxy, shrunken down version of the Kia EV3.Like its larger sibling, the EV2 is poised to run on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform using 400-volt architecture. Kia’s EV5 and full-sized EV9 also run on the same platform, albeit with 800-volt architecture.Despite its shared underpinnings, the EV2 is expected to carry less driving range than the EV3’s maximum of 601km (WLTP-rated), with The Korean Carblog foreshadowing a figure close to 480km, likely thanks to a smaller battery than the EV3’s base 58.3kWh unit.The EV2 is still poised to be capable of charging from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in just 31 minutes, though, as is the case with the EV3 thanks to DC fast-charging ability.Kia’s global CEO, Ho-Sung Song, has already confirmed to Autocar UK that the EV2 will have a target price of about £25,000 ($50,140) in the UK, a fellow right-hand-drive market.Typically, Australian car prices are much cheaper than the UK’s, although the fact that the EV2 will be built in Slovakia rather than South Korea or China doesn’t do any favours for the Australian market.A lack of a free-trade agreement between Slovakia and Australia as well as longer transport distances could see it land locally at a price comparable to the UK or bypassing Australia altogether.If it does arrive its price is expected to sit between budget EVs like the GWM Ora, BYD Dolphin and MG4, which hover around the sub-$35,000 mark, and more upmarket models such as the Mini Cooper Electric ($53,990, before on-road costs) with which it is expected to be closer to in size.CarsGuide has contacted Kia Australia for an update on the brand's local plans for the EV2.

Kia set a sales record in Australia last year and the company’s boss has plans to smash that record again in 2025.

Many so-called “all-new” models aren’t all that new. In fact, a sizeable chunk are reskinned versions of what came before, with fresh sheetmetal over the same general hard points.

The electric SUV market has been Tesla’s since the Model Y arrived down under in 2022, with few rivals fit enough to challenge it from a range, price or technological perspective.The competition has finally expanded in 2024, with cut-price Chinese and South Korean rivals gunning for the Model Y’s crown.So, do they have the spec sheets to prove it?We’ve put two of the most compelling Model Y rivals – the Kia EV5 and Xpeng G6 – head-to-head on paper with Australia’s top-selling EV to determine whether Tesla really has anything to worry about.The Model Y is comfortably the leader when it comes to cargo space, offering what the brand claims is an additional 334-litres of additional storage over the Kia EV5 and a further 273-litres over the Xpeng G6.It must be mentioned, however, that Tesla only quotes the space between the boot floor and the Model Y's roof, while most other brands only quote boot space to rear window line.That said, the Model Y is known for its huge cargo capacity, adding an additional 117 litres under the bonnet, besting the Kia EV5 by 50 litres, while the Xpeng G6 is void of a front trunk entirely.The discrepancies in cargo space are quite staggering when you factor in that the Model Y and Xpeng G6 are practically on par when it comes to dimensions, with the G6 actually 2mm longer than the Model Y and 26mm taller.Tesla credits the Model Y's huge expansiveness to the Model Y's electric underpinnings, which positions the electric motor (or motors) closer to the axles, making way for additional cabin space.Cargo space aside, the Model Y's huge width can make it feel a quite daunting to park, particularly when car parks don't always subscribe to the minimum 2.4m width they're required to. For those who prefer a slimmer car, the Kia EV5 is the safest bet.When purchasing an EV, arguably the most important factor (beside cost) is range, and in this key metric the Xpeng G6 Long Range has either of its competitors beaten decisively. It carries an additional 47km over the Model Y and a whopping 70km over the EV5.It has them both on another key metric as well – DC fast-charging time. According to Xpeng's claim for the G6 Long Range, you'll spend 18 fewer minutes at a charging station than you will charging the equivalent EV5, or seven minutes less on the equivalent Model Y. In a world of shortening attention spans and impatient drivers, that will undoubtedly make the G6 more appealing.Achieving that figure, however, is obviously dependent on the charger meeting the max capacity of 280kW, which depends on how closely you live to a fast-charging station, which are unfortunately less common than one would hope. The Model Y might have the G6 in that respect, given it operates its own network of chargers across Australia with 250kW capacity pylons commonplace, the majority of which are exclusive to Tesla vehicles.Despite having the largest battery pack, the Kia EV5 falls short on both of its rivals with a comparatively long charging time at 38 minutes at a maximum capacity of just 141kW.In terms of speed and acceleration, the Model Y is streets ahead of the competition, a less practical metric but one that is undoubtedly appealing for some prospective buyers.Its dazzling 0-100km/h time of 5.0 seconds is followed by the EV5's at 6.1 seconds, which is closely followed by the G6 at 6.2 seconds. The EV5 leads the way with power at 308kW, 32kW more than the Model Y and 108kW more than the G6, while the Model Y has them both covered with torque, giving it a class-leading towing capacity of 1600kg.Since going on sale in the US in 2019, the Model Y is yet to receive a comprehensive facelift, both inside or out.Despite the upgraded 'Juniper' model being earmarked to arrive next year, it's unlikely we will see a comprehensive redesign of the interior, with the combined central driver's display/multimedia display set to remain the standard for 2025 as we saw on the updated Model 3.Tesla purists swear by it, but there are many in the automotive world who are rightly critical of the speedometer being located on the central screen where it exists alongside practically every other vehicle function.Adopting an interior layout that appears to be inspired by the Model Y, Xpeng have gone a step further by installing a 10.2-inch digital driver display, and though the majority of vehicle controls are still commanded through the central infotainment screen, it will no doubt be a more approachable configuration for prospective buyers.It's the Kia EV5 that takes the crown for the most compelling cabin, which is headlined by the integrated panoramic display, a simple, user-friendly display that Kia models have become known for in recent years. On the EV5, that includes twin 12.3-inch touchscreen displays and a smaller 5.0-inch touchscreen for climate controls wedged between.The EV5 – and the G6 – are both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible, with Tesla eschewing the software in favour of its own in-house system.All three vehicles carry wireless charging capability, a panoramic sunroof, synthetic leather upholstery and heated front seats as standard, but only one model – the EV5 – provides the option of a massage function for the driver and an augmented reality head-up display.Additionally, if you opt for the top-spec GT-Line variant, you'll get a storage area in the second row that can cool and heat up food, as well as an eight-speaker Harman/Kardon premium sound system.Tesla's stereo is considered one of the best in the business, though.Dual-zone climate only comes on the EV5 and G6, while only the G6 carries an air purification system.These days, especially for EVs, its all about price. And who can undercut the competition with its low-cost manufacturing capacity more than anyone else? China.Despite all three models being built for the Australian market in China, its the Chinese-owned Xpeng G6 that takes the cake from a price perspective. With a starting price of just $54,800 before on-road cost, its $1100 cheaper than the Tesla Model Y and $1,970 cheaper than the base-model Kia EV5.Prices are at before on-road costsPrice is arguably the most important factor informing a customer's decision to purchase an EV, and when you combine that with a better driving range and charging time than both of its key rivals, the answer of which EV makes the strongest case – the Xpeng G6 – becomes clear cut.Having said that, all three vehicles make a compelling case in terms of value, with very little separating them on price or performance.Regardless of preferences, that signals exciting times ahead for the EV market, particularly when you compare it to how it looked just two years ago when Tesla appeared untouchable.

Australians aren’t buying as many EVs as they need to.

Kia might have prices its all-electric Tesla Model Y rival, the EV5, sharply, but don’t expect the brand to slice and dice its prices further, with the Korean brand insisting it will resist the “panic” that has befallen Tesla and other EV makers.