KIA EYES EV SUCCESSORS TO STINGER GT, PICANTO

Potent electric halo car and a sub-£17k city EV are under consideration

- MARK TISSHAW

Kia is planning to bookend its range of EVs, with an entrylevel city car and a new halo model under consideration.

The Korean brand has trademarked names from EVI to EV9 for a range of models, and while it has confirmed that an EV2 will sit below the new EV3, the prospect of an EVI has been off the table until now.

But Kia president Ho-sung Song confirmed to Autocar on a Car of the Year test drive of the new EV3 (turn to p20) that an electric city car to replace the Picanto in the longer term was the "next, next target" as Kia seeks to bring down the cost of EV technology.

Such a car would need to cost below €20,000 (roughly £16,850) and would not be possible before the end of the decade. Until then, Kia is working to lower the cost of electric cars in €5000 increments: the EV3 is €35,000 (£29,500) in Europe and the 2026 EV2, a new supermini-sized model, will be below €30,000 (£25,285).

In time, the cost of those models could drop as battery technology becomes more affordable, at which point the possibility of a sub-€20,000 city car becomes viable.