Look! Electric EV6 ushers in a new era for Kia

Kia has revealed the EV6, its flagship electric vehicle that will spearhead the firm’s new range of zero-emission motors.

It has crossover looks that will appeal to one of the largest markets for sales, but brings a new design philosophy that the firm hopes will mark out its new focus on electric vehicles.

The new front end uses an evolution of Kia’s existing ‘tiger nose’ grille, which it now calls the ‘digital tiger face’. This sees fairly simple styling choices, such as a slim grille between the large headlights and a basic bumper with a large lower grille.

From the side, the windows have a high line that curves up sharply at the rear, while the rear is much more dramatic. The full-width taillights arch high above the bumper and almost create a double rear spoiler effect, not too dissimilar to the Aston Martin DBX.

Because the EV6 uses the same E-GMP electric vehicle platform as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia has been able to open up the interior to provide more space than you would expect from a traditional combustion engine car.

While many manufacturers lean towards minimalist interiors in modern EVs, the EV6 has quite a busy cabin. There’s a prominent ultra-wide screen that runs from behind the wheel, where it displays important driving information, across to the centre of the car, where the infotainment display is located.

It has quite a chunky steering wheel, while between the front passengers is an upper console with the gear selection dial and a couple of storage solutions. Below that is more storage and USB slots.

Although Kia has not revealed technical details just yet, sharing the E-GMP platform with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 gives us a good idea of what to expect. In its top-spec guise, that car has a 72.6kWh battery that should provide more than 300 miles of range and can be recharged at speeds of up to 220kW. Pricing and specification details are expected nearer to release later in 2021.