Kia Settles Upon EV Naming Strategy, Teases EV6

On Monday, Kia teased its first all-electric model and gave us the nomenclature that will be used for all upcoming battery-driven products. While perhaps not as creative as giving its cars real names, as one would with anything they truly loved, the Korean-based automaker has settled upon the tried-and-true method of giving its units alphanumeric designations with the EV prefix.

It’s similar to the naming strategies employed by other manufacturers, many of which originally envisioned battery electric vehicles as part of their own brand, with Kia having the presumed advantage of using the two letters most synonymous with electrification.

From Kia:

As part of the company’s brand transition, Kia’s new dedicated battery electric vehicles will be named according to a new naming strategy. The new approach brings simplicity and consistency to Kia’s EV nomenclature across all global markets.

All of Kia’s new dedicated BEVs will start with the prefix ‘EV’ which makes it easy for consumers to understand which of Kia’s products are fully electric. This is followed by a number which corresponds to the car’s position in the line-up.

As for the EV6, the model appears to be a rather low-riding crossover (hatchback) using the new Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) it shares with Hyundai. While the silhouetted images we brightened don’t offer much detail, we can still assess the vehicle’s general shape and appreciate the wraparound lighting solutions the manufacturer has introduced to punch things up. It’s almost like the Rio 5-Door and Stinger had an all-electric baby, though we’re inclined to believe that’s a coincidence.

Besides, any assurances about the vehicle’s looks made today will be undone when Kia takes the wraps off — something the manufacturer said remained scheduled for the first quarter of 2021. Based on Kia’s corporate calendar, that only gives us until the end of April.

The brand has been quite secretive about the vehicle. But we know it’s supposed to use a 77.4-kWh battery pack (with 800-volt charging capabilities) and come with optional all-wheel drive (default is rear), just like its platform buddy the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Kia has also said the EV6 will have a range of more than 310 miles using the forgiving “Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure” that’s favored in Europe.

These parallels make us believe that the vehicle will probably have tons in common with the new Ioniq while providing numerous opportunities to speculate. The fastest EV6s probably won’t outpace the top-tier Ioniq 5’s 306 horsepower and 446 pound-feet of torque, or 5 second rush to 60 mph. But it should get close, with the same going for the other trim levels likely to be separated by battery size and which wheels can drive the vehicle. Pricing should be somewhere in the low $40,000 range and can be further tamped down by various EV incentives provided by the government and its tax base.

[Image: Kia]