Kia EV6 demands soar in Europe, production to begin soon

Korean carmaker Kia Corporation has said that its first electric vehicle, the EV6, has recorded a large number of pre-sale orders in Europe. According to the Korean carmaker, pre-sales orders for EVs have reached 7,000 units in Britain, France, Germany and other major economies, with numbers set to continue to increase.

Production of the EV6 is scheduled to start in the middle of the year, with delivery in autumn.

Kia had launched its crossover EV built on a dedicated platform last month and received 21,016 pre-orders on the first day of its launch in South Korea, setting a new record among the automaker's SUV models.

Initial demand for the EV6 has far exceeded Kia's sales target of 13,000 units for this year at its home market. The carmaker is targeting to sell 17,000 EV6 this year in overseas markets.

(Read more about Kia EV6 here)

Kia Corporation has issued a statement today that read, "Kia has opened factory orders for the ground breaking EV6 following a successful European reservation phase. The brand obtained 33,000 prospects, including 7,300 reservations. On top of that, more than 26,000 customers showed interest in Kia’s first dedicated battery electric vehicle. Thanks to this remarkable performance, Kia already secures 300% of the expected sales volume for 2021. Customers will be able to order the EV6 from their local dealer from today, ahead of production starting mid-2021."

In Europe, the Kia EV6 is priced at 44,990 euros, roughly converted to about ₹40 lakh.

Jason Jeong, President at Kia Europe, said, "It’s extremely encouraging as Kia looks ahead to the future of electric mobility with the new EV6, based on our new dedicated EV platform (E-GMP). The high number of customers who have already put their name down for the EV6 highlights the strong demand and we are confident that the launch of the EV6 will be also very successful."

Kia's latest electric vehicle will be offered in three variants - EV6, EV6 GT-Line and EV6 GT. They will be available with several drive configurations, including two battery variants for a range of over 510 kilometres. The top version GT is only offered with the more powerful battery pack. The EV6 is available with two-wheel drive (2WD) and optionally as an all-wheel drive (AWS).