Kia on April 1 began producing exports models of the EV5 in China. Up until now the compact electric SUV has been a China only model but the car will be exported from China to both left and hand and right hand drive markets.
The car already exists in right hand drive form having been shown at last month’s Bangkok International Motor Show (BIMS). Kia Thailand at the event announced pricing for the car which slots in below the larger EV6. Autohome say that the car will be Australia bound.
The Kia EV5 officially launched at last year’s Guangzhou Auto Show. It is the first China made global EV for Kia and uses the company’s 800V E-GMP platform. Looking somewhat like a scaled down EV9 it has a length, width and height of 4615, 1875 and 1715 mm respectively, while the wheelbase is 2750 mm.
In China power comes from a 160 kW electric motor on the front axle with 310 Nm torque with no all-wheel drive version currently available. However for export there will be an all-wheel drive version which adds a 70 kW motor to the rear axle cutting acceleration from 8.5 seconds down to 6.1 seconds, top speed remains the same 185 km/h. A GT version will be added at a later date.
Battery power seems to vary according to market. In China there are currently six versions on sale with a choice of either a 64.2 or 88.1 kWh battery pack which give the EV5 ranges of 530 km and 720 km CLTC respectively. Both battery packs come from FinDreams, the BYD subsidiary, and use the famous lithium iron phosphate (LFP) Blade battery. Thai versions seem to use the same batteries however the Korean market version will use a 58 kWh battery on the standard version and a 81 kWh pack on the long-rang version. According to reports some markets may use NMC batteries rather the LFP. The Kia EV5 supports both V2L and V2G.
To aid driving the car has an i-Pedal system which allows true one pedal driving. Inside the car has a dual 12.3-inch continuous screen setup with the instrument panel blending into the infotainment screen. There is an additional 5-inch climate control screen. Seat options include eco-friendly recycled PET fabric and Bio-PU leather coverings. The rear seats fold fully flat.
The Kia EV5 is produced by Yueda Kia at the 4.0 intelligent manufacturing plant in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. Dongfeng previously held a 25% stake in the joint venture but in 2021 sold its stake to Yueda meaning that Kia owns 50% and the remainder belongs to two different Yueda entities. Yueda Kia aims to export 200,000 cars a year by 2026 and claim to currently export to more than 50 countries with this set to increase to 80 countries.
Editor’s note:
The choice of using a Chinese factory to export the EV5 is interesting. Until recently few JVs chose to do this due to having to share 50% of the profit with their JV partner. Probably one of the reasons for the change is the poor sales of Kia in China, last year the company only sold around 80,000 cars in China. In contrast the company exported about 86,000 from China, an increase of 125% over the previous year. Such figures are a far cry from Kia’s best year in China back in 2016 when it sold 564,039 cars.
Sources: Autohome, Dongchedi, Kia, Paul Tan, Online Car Market,
