The updated Kia EV6 crossover appeared in the first teasers

Kia, part of the Hyundai Motor Group, is preparing to present an updated mid-size electric crossover EV6: it will receive a more aggressive appearance and, as expected, a more capacious battery.

The Kia EV6 debuted three years ago and became the first model from the South Korean brand to ride on the modular E-GMP platform with an 800-volt electrical architecture. The main market for the Kia EV6, as statistics show, was Europe; its sales here last year, according to JATO Dynamics, amounted to 34,896 units, which is 21% more than the 2022 result. However, the Kia EV6 did not even make it into the top twenty of the most popular electric vehicles on the European market, leaving behind the slightly more compact and more affordable Kia Niro EV crossover (38,104 units sold in 2023, -1%). Well, the main competitors have gone far ahead — Tesla Model Y (251,617 units, +84%), Volkswagen ID.4 (85,088 units, +26%) and Skoda Enyaq (66,247 units, +34%) .

Pre-styling Kia EV6 1/5 Pre-styling Kia EV6 2/5 Pre-styling Kia EV6 3/5 Pre-styling Kia EV6 4/5 Pre-styling Kia EV6 5/5

In the first quarter of this year, Kia EV6 sales in Europe went down: 6,933 units were sold. (-5% compared to sales in January-March 2023).

In the US last year, the Kia EV6, according to the company itself, sold 18,879 units. (-7.9%), in native South Korea — 17,227 units. (-30.7%).

The closest technical relative of the Kia EV6 is the Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossover, which was restyled in March, but Kia is expected to present the updated EV6 before the end of this month.

Updated Kia EV6

As can be seen from the first teasers, the restyling brought the Kia EV6 a more aggressively designed front end with complex LED squiggles of the headlights, which have become the calling card of all the latest Kia new products, and each new product has different squiggles, so the model range turns out to be quite varied. The rear of the crossover has remained virtually unchanged.

Updated Kia EV6

There are no photos of the interior of the updated Kia EV6 yet, as well as information about technical evolutions, but judging by the new Hyundai Ioniq 5, the maximum capacity of the Kia EV6 battery will increase from 77.4 to 84 kWh, which will significantly increase the range on a single charge (currently the maximum is 528 km on the WLTP cycle). It is unknown whether there will be changes in the power plants; currently the top-end twin-engine Kia EV6 GT produces 585 hp. and 740 Nm, it reaches the first “hundred” in 3.5 seconds, the maximum speed is 260 km/h.

We would like to add that in April, Kia presented an updated development plan, in which it promised expansion of the line of plug-in hybrid models in response to the global slowdown in demand for electric vehicles. At the same time, Kia's electric vehicle line will grow from the current three models (Niro EV, EV6 and EV9) to fifteen by 2027; the upcoming premieres are the Kia EV3 subcompact crossover, the Kia EV4 midsize sedan and the Kia EV5 compact crossover.