We spied Kia's first next-gen dedicated electric vehicle testing on public roads earlier this summer with a design inspired by the Imagine concept. It turns out, the new zero-emission car is just the tip of the iceberg as the automaker has just announced its ambitious plan to launch seven new EVs by 2027.
The teaser image you see at the top of this page is our very first look at the upcoming battery-electric cars onslaught from South Korea. Kia says the models will be from multiple segments and we can clearly see at least three crossovers and what appears to be a compact car. In total, under the Plan S strategy, Kia aims to have no fewer than 11 electric cars on sale by 2025.
"Kia has sold more than 100,000 BEVs worldwide since the introduction of our first mass-produced BEV in 2011, the Kia Ray EV," Kia CEO, Ho Sung Song, said during an event at the brand's Hwasung plant in Korea. "Since then, we have started to introduce a range of new BEVs for global markets and announced plans to accelerate this process in the years ahead. By refocusing our business on electrification, we are aiming for BEVs to account for 25 percent of our total worldwide sales by 2029."
The first to arrive from the next-generation EVs from Kia will be introduced next year. Codenamed the CV, the electric car will be a global model and should offer "the same competitive product quality and eye-catching design" as Kia's conventional models.
As a further boost of its electrification strategy, Kia has plans to establish more than 2,400 EV charging stations in Europe and around 500 in North America. In addition, the manufacturer will expand its network of EV service centers globally to more than 3,500 sites by 2023.
