Kia EV5 production for shipping begins

Korean automaker Kia has started building the EV5 compact electric SUV outside of the Chinese market. As CarNewsChina writes, both right- and left-hand drive export vehicles have been released for a few days. Apparently the cars are intended primarily for the Australian and Asian markets and should be slightly cheaper than the EV6, which is also available in Germany.

The Kia EV5 is the world’s first electric car made in China from Hyundai subsidiary Kia and uses the 800-volt E-GMP platform. It looks similar to the new flagship Kia EV9, but is much smaller. Length is 4.62 meters, width is 1.88 meters and height is 1.72 meters. The wheel is 2.75 meters. In China, the SUV is powered by a 160 kW electric motor on the front axle. According to CarNewsChina, there will also be an all-wheel drive version for export, which adds a 70 kW motor to the rear axle. There will also be a sporty GT version available later.

BYD produces batteries

The Chinese model has a battery with a size of 64 or 88 kWh. These batteries are produced by a subsidiary of BYD. “The Thai version appears to use the same battery, however the Korean version will use a 58kWh battery for the standard version and an 81kWh battery for the long-range version.“says CarNewsChina. According to reports, some markets may use NMC batteries instead of the LFP battery used otherwise. The Kia EV5 supports V2L and V2G for two-way charging.

The Kia EV5 is offered in Yancheng in Jiangsu Province. “Dongfeng previously had a 25 percent stake in the joint venture, but sold its stake to Yueda in 2021, so Kia now owns 50 percent of the shares and the rest is owned by two separate Yueda companies.”, the article also discusses the ownership structure. The Yueda Kia company has set itself the goal of exporting 200,000 vehicles annually by 2026 and says it currently sells to more than 50 countries, with that number expected to increase to 80 countries, it said.

The editorial team speculates that Kia may also take the unusual step of exporting products from China – after all, the profits there are shared with the joint venture partners – because Kia’s fully electric vehicles have not been selling as well as expected there recently. Overall, Kia’s car sales in China dropped from more than 560,000 cars in 2016 to only around 80,000 in 2023.

Those: CarNewsChina – “Kia begins EV5 production for export in China”