EV3 registrations in the South Korean market totalled 12,525 units in H1 of which 1,884 were sold last month. And even though this means the car was down in 22nd place, that’s almost double the YtD volume of the Hyundai Ioniq 5. How about the Ioniq 9? Its tally is 3,608, while 3,277 examples of the new EV4 were delivered.
Meanwhile, 59,129 units of the Kia Sorento found buyers, making it the country’s number one model. KAIDA does not break out data by power source, so while the Kia Ray (25,269) and Genesis G80 (22,201) also put in good numbers, we don’t know how many of each were the electric variants.
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Generally speaking, Korean buyers are not yet embracing EVs in a major way, leading local OEMs to channel lots of production towards Europe. Especially as both American and Chinese buyers are generally indifferent to HMG’s brands’ cars-with-cords.
The top-selling EV for private buyers in Britain
If we are still in a phase where EVs are but a small part of the global car market then no-one has told British buyers. Kia is doing especially well, the EV3 ending H1 as the country’s most popular electric passenger vehicle at a retail sales level.
Kia did in fact set a new record of 62,005 combined liquid-fuel and electrified cars and SUVs in the year to the end of June. Which as of now makes it the UK’s number three brand, 1,600 vehicles clear of Ford and 5,700 behind BMW with VW (94,156) way out in front of both. Let’s see what happens during the next few months though, as both Ford (10,204, +20.1%) and, unusually, Hyundai (10,109, +9.9%) beat Kia (10,043, -2.7%) in June.
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By GlobalDataBattery models have risen to now make up one quarter of the British market for new vehicles. With the government handing out GBP650 m in fresh subsidies to those rich enough to buy a new EV, registrations could surge. And that will be great news for the nation’s number one Korean make.
Kia’s big ambitions for EVs
Already, the EV3’s 6,293 sales are a little more than one tenth of Kia’s total. And while the Sportage is well loved (23,012 sold between 1 January and 30 June with a freshened model available soon) there is no electric variant.
This brand is smart enough not to have gone all-in on EVs, instead slowly-slowly readying itself and buyers for the eventual era when IC-only passenger cars will no longer be available. Here in Britain, that situation is within sight so all these new EV-plus-one-number models are poised to become a potential major force.
It was as long ago as October 2023 when the world first saw the EV3, and, at 4.3 m long, presently the smallest Kia on a native-electric architecture. An EV2 is in development and an EV1 might well follow closer to 2030, while the EV6 has just been facelifted and EV4 build starts at the Žilina factory in Slovakia as soon as next month.
EV1 to EV9?
Things have, however, shifted somewhat since Kia Corporation held its EV Day only 21 months ago. Back then, existing and confirmed future models were EV3, EV4, EV5, EV6 and EV9 with a stated goal of offering 15 EVs by 2027.
Annual sales of one million electric Kias by 2026 was a further ambition. That would have accounted for 25 percent of the company’s total forecast of passenger vehicle production. Then by 2030, this was to be 1.6 million units per annum.
Heady stuff, those goals. However, The Trump Administration, a flood of cheap EVs in China and general volatility for interest in electric cars the world over have combined to Kia Corporation revise its outlook. Demand continues to see-saw throughout Europe and Asia while a further downturn in North America is forecast.
Build in Korea, and soon, in the USA
We west Europeans are pretty much the main target for the EV3, the UK being the region’s second largest market for electric cars. Not that Kia builds it here; instead Autoland Gwangmyeong is the lead plant, producing both LHD and RHD examples. Also known as Gyeonggi No 2, this facility now manufactures only EVs following a temporary idling and refit in 2023.
The small-to-medium-sized SUV will also be made at Kia’s Monterrey factory in Mexico, the specially modified EV3 for North America having a third, lower case letter (SVm) in its codename. Both are based on HMG’s E-GMP and have a 400-volt electrical architecture whereas the larger EV6 and EV9 each have an 800-V one as well as a rear-biased drive system.
While the model is still a fairly new addition to the line-up for the UK, it dates to a world debut at the Busan motor show 13 months ago. South Korea was the first market (July 2024) with sales in LHD European countries commencing in the final quarter of last year. And as was recently confirmed, the EV4 and EV5 are both coming to Europe within the next six to twelve months.
Roominess as standard
Anyone familiar with even the EV9 or just-facelifted EV6 will still find the EV3 to be a new kind of Kia. Compared to something like the Ceed it’s completely different and that includes not just the way it looks and drives but how the interior is laid out. In common with the similarly proportioned VW ID.3, there is a vast amount of space in a package that’s bigger than a Polo yet smaller than a Golf.
Drive is to just the one axle – the front one – though a two-motors all-wheel drive GT variant is said to be on the way. The wheelbase, which is 2,680 mm, helps explain how HMG created a car which is 120 mm shorter than the e-Niro yet has oodles of room for legs. The dashboard, seats, door cards, even the headlining look like next generation components and have strong links to existing electric Kias such as the EV6 and EV9.
Kia specifies a 150 kW (204 PS) and 283 Nm motor for all variants but with two battery choices, those being 58.3 kWh or 81.4 kWh. Not that you can see any of the major drive system parts: lifting the bonnet reveals mostly lots of black plastic shielding. There is however a small boot, its 25 litres of capacity being only just enough to hold the charging cables. The luggage bay, on the other hand, is big, with an official volume of 460 litres.
Typically electric: heavy, even in base form
I had only a brief drive of the EV3 and it did impress, even if the ADAS can be a touch too-keen. Happily, real buttons exist to deactivate Lane Assist. This being a heavy car for its size – 1,750-1,850-ish kilos depending on the battery – the ride is nicely smooth but the steering could do with a little more in terms of a direct feel.
It’s brisk enough, though top speed is a mere 106 mph or 170 km/h and the best range is an indicated 350 miles, that being for ideal conditions with the larger battery. If you’re wondering about their chemistry, that’s NCMA. These nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum lithium-ion cells were developed via a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution.
Kia Corporation is hoping for peak global sales of 200,000 cars annually, of which 25,000-30,000 should be in South Korea. The way things are going, 2026 could see that achieved, things being helped along greatly by the European region, with the UK likely to remain an especially strong market.
The Kia EV3 is available in Air, GT-Line and GT-Line S trim levels. It is priced from GBP33,005 with a 58.3 kWh battery (Air), while variants with the 81.4 kWh pack cost GBP36,005 (Air), GBP39,405 (GT-Line), GBP43,005 (GT-Line S) and GB43,905 (GT-Line S with a heat pump).
