Kia Corporation has officially launched its new EV5 compact SUV in South Korea, its fifth purpose-built battery electric vehicle (BEV), based on Hyundai Motor Group’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) platform, to enter the market.
The EV5 compact SUV follows the EV3, EV4, EV6 and EV9 dedicated BEV models, which all share the same modular platform. The EV5 has been in production in China since early 2024 and has been sold locally and exported to Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand for over a year.
Kia is stepping up the global roll-out of the model with the launch of production in Gwangju, South Korea, starting with the launch of sales in South Korea, followed by Europe and Canada before the end of the year, and in the US in early 2026.
Kia confirmed that the South Korean version of the EV5 features design and safety features specifically tailored to local consumer requirements and regulations. It has a spacious interior and 965 litres of luggage space, and is powered by an 81.4 kilowatt-hour (kWh) nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery pack and a 160-kilowatt front-wheel-drive motor.
The battery cells are produced by China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Ltd (CATL), rather than by a South Korean manufacturer, with the company claiming to have factored in the Chinese company’s stable supply chain, as well as cost, performance, quality, and safety.
Prices start at KRW 48.55 million (US$ 34,800) for the EV5 Air model, with the EV5 Earth model costing KRW 52.3 million and the EV5 GT-Line at KRW 53.4 million.
