Kia’s next electric car has had its production start date delayed to March 2025, but it has been spied by Shorts Car in Korea ahead of its official release.
The heavily camouflaged EV4 liftback looks an awful lot like the concept shown off by Kia in October 2023 – that’s nothing new for the design-forward Korean brand.
It’s difficult to see any details of the body’s flanks but poking through is a twin rear spoiler, vertical LED lighting details at the rear and a dramatically sloping roofline. The liftback barely has a horizontal boot surface and is almost EV6-like.
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The unique aero alloy wheels with a tri-spoke polished face appear as though they may make production, too.
The EV4 will be longer than the just-revealed EV3 but a little smaller overall than the EV5. Much like those two products, the Kia EV4 is pitched as a more affordable electric car for Kia.
That means it will almost certainly use Kia’s front-wheel drive E-GMP variant with 400-volt architecture and smaller battery sizes than the flagship EV6 and EV9.
The EV3 packs an 81.4kWh NCM battery in long range trim and a 58.3kWh battery in the standard range.
Given it will share many parts with the EV3 and EV5, vehicles coming to Australia could be built in China and utilise more affordable and stable Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry as the EV5 will for local consumption.
Kia Executive Vice President Woo Jeong Joo put a lot of pressure on the brand’s electric cars succeeding back in January.
“Electric vehicles are the biggest influence on Kia’s sales and profits. We plan to flexibly respond to market changes in the medium to long term,” he said.
“The EV3, EV4, and EV5 will be launched sequentially, and we are determined to make these three models successful.”
Details like price are yet to be announced, however the Kia EV3’s starting price in its home market is 39.95 million won, equivalent to $43,200 here. An EV4 would be a little more expensive but could still start around the $50K mark.
When production beings in 2025, the EV4 could be a very unique proposition as the only ‘small’ electric sedan. With the electric mid-size sedan segment proving popular here with the circa 4.8m-long BYD Seal and Tesla Model 3, the EV4 could be set for success.
CarsGuide has contacted Kia Australia for further information. We will know more closer to the EV4’s full release expected for the first half of 2025.
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