Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Electric VehiclesLatestNewsVehicle manufacturers

Kia launches global EV strategy

Early plans for Korean manufacturer Kia’s global electric vehicle business strategy have been unveiled today.

The ‘sketch’ includes several Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and sees the firm aim to take a ‘leadership position’ within the next decade. It will launch a range of dedicated BEVs and partner with EV charging companies worldwide to achieve this goal.

CEO of the firm, Ho Sung Song, outlined at the event in Korea that the business will “refocus” on electrification, aiming for BEVs to account for 25% of its total worldwide sales by 2029.

Under Kia’s ‘Plan S’ strategy, announced at the start of 2020, the brand plans to expand its BEV line-up to 11 models by 2025. Over the same period, Kia is aiming for BEVs to account for 20% of the brand’s total vehicle sales in advanced markets, including Korea, North America and Europe. Seven dedicated BEVs in the sketch revealed today will be launched by 2027.

The first of these BEVs, code-named CV, will be revealed in 2021 as the brand’s first dedicated BEV using the same product lines and design as Kia’s other vehicles.

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Kia’s ‘Plan S’ strategy

Kia is innovating its vehicle planning, development and production to actively reflect diverse customer needs from the product planning stage. The manufactuer is planning to respond to market demands by offering diversified product types, with a range of models suitable for urban centres, long-range journeys, and performance driving.

Kia Motors is also seeking to innovate its sales practices for EVs. The brand is exploring the creation of subscription services to offer a diversified buying option for customers, as well as EV battery leasing and rental programs, and other ‘second-life’ battery-related businesses.

In addition, Kia Motors plans to expand its global after service infrastructure for EVs and increase its number of dedicated EV work bays in Korea to 1,200 by 2030. In other markets worldwide, it will increase the number of EV work bays to 600 by the end of this year, and more than 2,000 by 2023. Kia also plans to develop its own programs to train EV maintenance professionals.

The firm will also partner to improve EV charging infrastructure, including 1,500 EV chargers in Korea, 2,400 in Europe and around 500 in north America through its dealer networks. It is also investing in IONITY, the European company specializing in high-speed EV charging, and is seeking charging infrastructure partners for the U.S. and China to provide an optimized infrastructure tailored to conditions in each market.

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