Kia hikes 2030 EV sales goal to 1.6 million, will make small EVs in India

Kia has significantly increased its global electric vehicle sales target to 1.6 million units by 2030 from the previous goal of 1.2 million units announced last year. The South Korean auto manufacturer has announced that it aims to get more than half its global sales from electrified vehicles in 2030 as it targets a 34 per cent higher total international sales number to 4.3 million units by the end of this decade.

Speaking about its EV sales projections, Kia CEO Ho Sung Song said that the automaker plans to sell 2.38 million battery electric and hybrid vehicles in 2030, a 300,000 unit hike over Kia's previous target from last year. He said that around 37 per cent or 1.6 million vehicles of the anticipated global sales will be battery-electric models by the end of this decade. The car brand further stated that it will produce small electric cars in India, while small and medium-sized EVs will be built in Europe and China. Also, the automaker plans to make the key EVs in the US beginning in 2024 with the EV9.

Kia's latest projection is also very ambitious compared to the automaker's sales target of 258,000 BEVs worldwide for 2023 and one million for 2026. The automaker wants electric vehicles to make up 32 per cent of its overall corporate profit in 2026 and 53 per cent in 2030. This is a massive increase compared to 2022, when electric vehicles contributed just five per cent to the OEM's overall profit. The auto company expects better profitability to come partly by cutting the cost of batteries by 55 per cent by the end of the current decade compared to 2018 prices.

Besides projecting its sales target, Kia CEO said the automaker will expand its full electric product lineup to 15 models by 2027. Kia will launch the EV9 in the second half of 2023 in South Korea, followed by the smaller EV5, which will arrive in China in the fourth quarter of 2023. These will join the brand's other electric cars, EV6 and Niro EV.