One step beyond

Kia's innovative Platform Beyond Vehicle range of electric vans is set to shake up the global market for commercial vehicles.

- JAMES ATTWOOD

In this transition era for the automotive industry, barely a week passes without a manufacturer wheeling out a bold new electric machine with a flashy presentation that claims it brings tomorrow's technology to today's roads and will transform the fortunes of the firm that made it. But those presentations don't normally include extended sections on load-bed access, Euro-pallet capacity and bumper repairability.

Except they do when your transformative vision of future motoring is a van - although that perhaps undersells the significance of the new Kia PV5. The firm labels it a Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV), and it's the first in a range of highly customisable bespoke electric models intended to disrupt the commercial vehicle market and help continue Kia's remarkable growth. Think of the impact of the brand's bespoke EV lineup, but for vans.

This isn't strictly Kia's first foray into commercial vehicles: the Bongo cab-over pickup has been sold in Korea and other markets since 1981 and spawned the Pregio van and MPV. But this is an entirely fresh business model, and one designed for volume: Kia is aiming to reach sales of 250,000 PBVs annually by 2030. "This is the next chapter of the Kia story," says Sangdae Kim, head of the firm's PBV division. "This is how we move forward as a leading EV brand."

Kim - known as SD, which he quips stands for "Smart Device, just like our PBVs" - has been building the new division for around four years. He says Kia identified the commercial vehicle market as one with "room for meaningful innovation" through the development of a line of electric vans, adding: "Our PBVs are designed to adapt to people, not force people to adapt to it."