Kia Concept EV5 ARRIVES as a baby brother to the new Kia EV9

The Kia Concept EV5 has been revealed at Kia’s Chinese EV Day, previewing a new production EV5 SUV, first for China.

It’s only a week since the reveal of the big Kia EV9 electric SUV, so we weren’t expecting anything else new from Kia for a while. But we were wrong.

At Kia’s Chinese EV day, Kia revealed the Kia EV5 as a concept pointing to a new electric SUV, looking for all the world like a shrunken EV9 and, according to Kia, presents “the brand’s strategy to establish global leadership in electrification“.

Clearly, the design ethos of the EV9 with its two-box look, bluff front end, and Digital Tiger Nose is the future for Kia’s electric SUVs, with heavily creased flanks, square wings, 21” alloys and Iceberg Matt Green paint job.

Inside, the EV5 also comes with the same swivelling seats as the EV9 which rotate to face out to the side, with no B-pillar and rear suicide doors for an uninterrupted view out when parked up.

The interior is very minimal with just a single screen extending in front of the driver to the centre, and front seats which look like a bench with an odd side extension across the centre.

Little in the way of technical details have been revealed on the EV5, but it’s undoubtedly based on the same platform as the EV6 and will be offered in a similar range of power, battery and drivetrain options.

Presumably pointing at a production EV5 which will effectively be an electric Sportage, the EV5 will go in to production later this year as a China-only model initially, but Kia says “Ddtails regarding any future plans for the other global markets will be made in due course“.