Kia held a CEO Investor Day online on the 3rd, sharing Kia's medium- and long-term business strategy. The key is to plan for a large-scale rollout of pure electric vehicles.
Kia mentioned launching its flagship electric vehicle, the EV9, in 2023 and at least two electric vehicles per year by 2027. With this plan, the company plans to build a lineup of 14 electric vehicles, which is 3 models more than the original plan to launch 11 models by 2026, so it has attracted much attention.
Kia expects its flagship evictation, the EV9, to receive the same accolade as the EV6. The EV9 is a large 5m SUV with a range of 540km and acceleration performance that can go from stationary to 100km/h in 5 seconds. In addition, over-the-air software updates (OTAs) and HDP Level 3 autonomous driving technologies are expected to be installed.
Kia also plans to produce electric vehicles in major regions such as Europe, the United States, China and India. In Europe, production of small and medium-sized electric vehicles is planned to begin in 2025, and in the United States, it is planned to start production of medium-sized SUVs and electric pickups from 2024. China will launch mid-sized electric vehicles starting next year, and India will start producing entry-level electric vehicles in 2025.
It also plans to quickly increase sales of electric vehicles. Starting with 160,000 units this year, the goal is to reach 807,000 units by 2026 and 1.2 million units by 2030. That's 36 percent higher than last year's target of 877,000 announced on Investor Day.
Kia claims that all new cars launched by 2025 will be equipped with OTAs to optimize performance, and by 2026, all new cars sold in developed markets will come standard with advanced autonomous driving features.
Kia Motors is also undergoing a positive transformation in the Chinese market, on the one hand, Kia will strengthen its control over the Chinese market, because Dongfeng has withdrawn. This will play a positive role in improving the current situation of Kia's difficult operation in the Chinese market.
Second, Kia will accelerate the speed of launching new cars in the Chinese market this year. In 2022, a new generation of Sportage, the replacement of the KX5, will be launched in China. There will also be a mid-term redesign of K3 KX3. Jawa may also launch a hybrid version of the model. The much-anticipated Kia EV6 may be listed domestically in 2023.