Kia Philippines is ready to get into the electric vehicle (EV) game in the near future. Apart from announcing its new brand logo and direction as well as the all-new Sorento and Stonic Style Edition, the Korean automaker will be bringing in “purpose-built EVs” for the Philippine market.
“Yes, there is a plan to bring two general types of vehicles, on top of the regular models that we have, which are the purpose-built vehicles and EVs. The EVs are of high interest now,” Kia Philippines President Manny Aligada said.
Aligada said the introduction of EVs into the country will depend on the development of the infrastructure and ecosystem that will support these vehicles, such as charging stations.
“It is very simple from a technology standpoint. But it is the support capabilities that are needed. It is not going to happen immediately. We are looking probably at some level of development next year and the pace of introduction for our EV models will depend on the development of that ecosystem,” Aligada continued.
“[Kia’s] EVs cannot be plugged into just any outlet. That is the kind of technology we hope to bring into the country. We have technical people outside of Kia Philippines that will be working with us on this,” he added.
When asked about these “purpose-built vehicles,” Kia Philippines’ Product Strategy and Planning Director Josh Altarejos said that these vehicles will be “focused on moving car or people.” However, he clarified that these won’t be based on any existing Kia model such as the K-Series. Instead, these will be all new. He added that they will likely be sourced from Korea.
Aligada added that the purpose-built vehicles do not have a definite design, and can be configured based on the preferences of consumers.
Globally, Kia has released its first dedicated EV, the EV6. The battery-electric crossover offers supercar levels of performance with a 0 to 100 km/h time of 3.5 seconds, and a top speed of 260 km/h. It is also the first Kia model to don the new design language.
my guess is that they'll introduce the Soul EV or the Niro EV first :) Might appeal more since they're both more utilitarian than the EV6
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they will bring one here for 'show' lang. Just to be the 1st in the EV game, as mentioned in the article, no infra yet to support EVs so a showcar/concept car that only goes around BGC and charges in their showroom will do for now.
ReplyDeletewell they're too late, the Outlander PHEV and the Leaf's already here :P
Deletethe outlander is a PHEV - Plug in Hybrid EV.
DeleteYou can add Porsche's Taycan to the EV being in the PH market.
And the Jaguar I-PACE.
DeleteInteresting if they jump immediately to full EVs, considering even hybrids are still catching up in our country.
ReplyDelete