We already talked about Kia’s first all-electric sedan. To be called as EV4, KIA already showcased the first official image of the concept that anticipates the Forte-like electric sedan on behalf of Kia EV Day to be held on October 12th.
Most of these electric vehicles will be SUVs like the EV5 or the EV4, models that were already launched or are already under real world testing but at least are expected to have two sedans. It is still unclear which one will be launched first, the GT1 (a high performance sedan that will be the Stinger replacement) and the CT1, a Forte-sized model.
South Korean media already mentioned that Kia has the KIA CT1 (internal codename) on the roadmap. The Kia EV4 will have global aspirations and will take on Toyota BZ-3 Sedan. The new Kia electric compact sedan should use the Hyundai Motor Group’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) instead of the eM platform, which is expected to be used by larger to premium vehicles.
Kia already started working so they’re undergoing some upgrades to its AutoLand Gwangju Plant, specifically the Plant 2. Kia shut down Plant 2 on June 1, 2023 in order to transform into a dedicated EV plant, and it will stay closed till December 31, 2023.
Plant 2 was home of the Rio hatchback, a model that was discontinued. It is expected that the updated plant will be ready to built two all-new electric models, the KIA EV4 (known internally as SV1) and the aforementioned KIA EV3 by June 2024.
It is expected to see some sightings of the KIA EV3 prototype before the end of the year.
