It is an open fact that many big pickup truck manufacturers are preparing to enter the field of pure electric pickup trucks, including Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, General Motors, etc., and of course, brands such as Rivian and Tesla, which directly started with new energy vehicles. The influence of Korean brands in China is far less than that of European and American or Japanese brands, but it still has a certain position in the US market. Recently, Kia revealed the news that it will also enter the pure electric market in the future, and will launch two pickup trucks in 2026 for different regional markets.
In this slide, Kia will launch at least two new pure electric models each year, expanding to 14 models by 2027. Among them, in the time node of 2026, we can see that 2 pickup trucks/commercial vehicles will be launched. In addition, in the notes, you can also see that one of the two pure electric pickup trucks is oriented to developed markets, and it is speculated that it will be North America, while the other will be oriented to emerging markets, speculating that it may be Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe, of course, it is not impossible to enter the Chinese market where pickup trucks are gradually used.
As a South Korean car company, Kia may have less experience in the pickup truck market, but the Hyundai brand, which is also a subsidiary of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group, currently has a pickup truck model - although it is also a "non-mainstream" pickup truck , The Santa Cruz, which is a load-bearing body pickup truck. If this pickup truck is directly "oil to electricity" to launch a pure electric pickup truck will be an effective and very convenient way. However, according to Kia's long car manufacturing cycle, it may not adopt this conventional method, and it is likely to launch a pure electric pickup model based on the new platform. If there is a new car, Hyundai may "share" the design results with Kia and launch a pure electric pickup truck.