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Kia’s EV6 (Kia) |
Kia Corp. on Monday released its first all-electric sedan EV6 in the domestic market ahead of its global launch set for later this year.
The model has logged 30,000 preorders since March, 21,016 of which were on the first day of the offer. It was the South Korean automaker’s best-ever presale record.
EV6, built on the company’s new EV platform E-GMP, has also seen strong demand in Europe, where it will be released later this year, and the US is set for a 2022 release, the company said.
In Korea, the model is priced at 47 million to 57 million won ($40,800-$49,490). With the government’s EV subsidies, local customers could purchase it for under 40 million won.
The latest EV from Kia, a unit of Hyundai Motor Group, is available with two battery packs -- the 77.4 kilowatt-hour long-range battery pack and the 58 kWh standard battery pack. Each battery can drive up to 475 kilometers and 370 km, respectively, on a single charge.
It comes in four different models, with three -- standard, long-range and the GT-Line -- available first this year and the high-performance GT model to be added by the end of next year, the carmaker said.
According to Kia, which changed its name from Kia Motors in January, the model is also the first domestically produced vehicle that had its carbon footprint certified by the UK-based global climate change consultancy Carbon Trust.
The EV6 is expected to carry on the EV momentum in Korea from its larger sister affiliate Hyundai Motor, which in April launched the all-electric Ioniq 5 to rave reviews and strong sales.
Hyundai plans to further roll out the Ioniq 5 EV to more overseas markets, starting with the United States in the latter half of this year, and aims to sell more than 560,000 units by 2025.
Share prices of Kia inched up 0.72 percent at the opening bell, amid news of EV6’s release.
By Kang Jae-eun (
kang.jaeeun@heraldcorp.com)
