It would not be an overstatement if we called 2025 the year of affordable electric vehicles in India. The country’s number one car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, has already confirmed that it will enter the EV segment in 2025 along with its partner Toyota. Recently, at the global unveiling of the 2024 Sonet, Kia revealed that it will launch a brand new made-in-India electric vehicle in 2025 for the mass market segment.
Mass market Kia EV gunning for Tata Nexon EV
Myung-Sik Sohn, Chief Sales and Business Officer, Kia India said, “The new mass market Kia EV will be somewhere in the price range of the Tata Nexon EV though it will be more premium in terms of design and features.” As Kia is considered a premium brand when compared to its competition, Sohn further explained that the company is confident that the affordable pricing of the new mass-market EV will push the sales volume further. “We are looking at around 10,000 units of the new EV in a year,” he added.
Even though Sohn took the Nexon EV as a reference, he refused to reveal the driving range of the new affordable EV. He said, “Its range will be more than what the Nexon EV offers.” It will be interesting to see which Nexon EV variant’s range Sohn was referring to as the Tata EV SUV is available in two trims — Mid Range and Long Range — which return a driving range of 325km and 465km respectively as per MIDC Cycle.
In terms of EV market share, last year, the Kia EV6 was the number one premium EV in the Rs 50 lakh plus category. Hardeep Singh Brar, Head of Sales & Marketing, Kia India said, “Last year, we had a 37 per cent share in this segment, but with the competition rising in this year (2023), our share has gone down to 20 per cent.”
Brar further explained Kia’s EV product plans for next year. “Kia will continue to sell the EV6 and will launch the company’s flagship electric vehicle, EV9, in 2024 in India,” said Brar. He added, “By launching the mass market EV in 2025, Kia India is looking at a market share of 10 per cent by 2026.”
Future challenges for Kia
With new products to be launched in 2025, Kia India will increase its plant’s current capacity of 3 lakh units to more than 4 lakh units. The process started last year when the company increased its manufacturing shift schedule from two to three.
By switching gears to the mass market EV segment, Kia is focused on growing the charging ecosystem. “ Currently, 16 dealers are already equipped with 150kW fast chargers and one even has a 240kW ultra-fast charger. Next year, we will add 90kW chargers,” said Sohn.
Another major challenge Kia highlighted was on localization of battery technology, which would significantly cut down on the costs. Sohn said that they working closely with their local partners to achieve this. He also mentioned that the new EV is a made-in-India product which is specially designed for the local market, but like the Sonet and the Seltos, it will be exported to other countries.
