Kia has released the first, occluded, teaser images of its new EV3 compact electric crossover, which might confuse those that think they’ve already seen the finished thing in full.
Production-ready
The car that Kia had already shown off was not the showroom-bound EV3, but instead a concept car, previewing the real EV3 you’ll soon be able to buy in Irish dealerships. The heavily cropped photos of the production model show that it will stick close to the concept (shown below), perhaps not surprisingly.
It does look as if the road-ready EV3 will have slightly sharper, more vertical surfacing around the edges of the nose and boot. Indeed, it looks as if it will be even more of a ‘mini-me’ to the Kia EV9 than the concept was, with a more upright style to make it more of a small SUV than a soft-edged crossover. Given the awards which have garlanded the EV9 (including World Car of the Year), this should come as no surprise.
Sub-€30,000 price tag?
Kia says that the EV3 will be a ‘more accessible model’ and the expectation is that it will have a price tag of less than €30,000 for the most basic version. That will, presumably, come with a relatively small battery and a range of circa-350km but there will be bigger-battery models which will stretch that to beyond 500km.
It will also be a fast car to charge, although it does without the blistering 800-volt fast-charging capability of the bigger Kia EV6 and EV9. Instead, the EV3 is expected to get a 400-volt charging system, which should still allow charging speeds of up to 200kW on DC power. You can also expect to see both single-motor and dual-motor, four-wheel drive versions.
Minimalist interior
The EV3 concept had an incredibly minimalist interior (see below), swathed in lots of soft-cloth surfaces and with a flattened oval steering wheel. Expect the production version to be rather more conventional, featuring Kia’s familiar curved twin-screen instrument and infotainment system, but likely with some of the concept’s soft-cloth look carried over.
All of this is at the rampant end of the speculation continuum, but we don’t have long to wait to have all our suspicions confirmed or denied - the Kia EV3 will be revealed in full on May 24.