Kia Niro EV – Kia’s Electric Crossover – REVEALED in production guise

The Kia Niro EV – Kia’s new electric crossover – is revealed in production guise ahead of a European public debut at the Paris Motor Show in the Autumn.

The Kia Niro EV arrived as a concept car at the CES in Las Vegas at the start of the year, and as it gets revealed in production guise in South Korea Kia has released the first photo of their new electric crossover.

Looking much like the concept EV we saw in January, the Niro EV comes with its own grille to mark it out from its ICE and Hybrid siblings, new air intakes, new LED running lights and yet looks perfectly mainstream and appealing.

The concept car came with a 64kWh battery pack said to be good for a 238 mile range – and a 15 minute top-up good for over 100 miles – powering a 201bhp electric motor, promising not just good range but lively performance too.

What Kia has revealed now the Niro EV is out in the wild is that it will also be offered with a lower spec – and more affordable – 39.2kWh battery pack which, we’re assuming, will come with the same specs as Hyundai’s Kona EV, which means a smaller 133bhp motor and an official range of a bit under 200 miles.

Kia say the Niro EV will go on sale in Korea in the second half of this year, but it probably won’t arrive in the UK until 2019.