Kia EV5 Concept Revealed in China

Following surprisingly soon after last week’s debut of the production EV9 three-row, Kia has now ushered its next model out of the shadows for the first time. Debuting as a concept called EV5, this one looks, in many ways, like a mini EV9, but some of the details are not totally copied.

As you can see, the formula was simple: do a ‘honey I shrunk the EV9’, graft on a generous face transplant donation from the Kia Niro EV, and make the taillights unique from either of the other two family members. It is certainly an attractive little trucklet, and because it is lower in the hierarchy than EV6, it is possible to assume it is about the same length or shorter. We won’t know until more details are revealed between now and the production model’s reveal.

What do we know about the concept for now? It has swiveling seats like the EV9, although the front passenger seat can join in the EV5, plus a large panoramic sunroof that houses solar panels. The interior is chock-full of sustainable materials, many of them potentially eligible for the production model. Invalidating my earlier claim, Kia actually calls the front end design the Digital Tiger Face, meaning it is to be considered in the same realm as EV9’s face.

By the way, the EV5 was not revealed in South Korea like you would expect, it was instead revealed at Kia Chinese EV Day in Shanghai. This model is initially aimed to go to their market first, but don’t doubt for a second that it’s being considered for North America.

‘More on the Kia EV5 here.