- Kia confirms its interest in making an electric car smaller than the EV2.
- This new city electric car hasn’t gotten the green light yet, but Kia likely wants a piece of a growing segment where it only has one model, the EV2.
- The EV1 and EV2 could be sold side by side, just as Volkswagen plans to do with the ID. Polo and identity. He crosses.
Europeans are clearly interested in buying small B-segment electric city cars if they are good and affordable enough. the Renault 5E Tech It was one of the best-selling electric cars on the continent in 2025, but it won’t be easy moving forward as the segment becomes crowded with competitors. Kia is also considering entering the segment with what is supposed to be called the EV1, a small city hatchback that sits below the EV2 in its electric car lineup.
Seeing the success of cars like the Renault 5 which is a traditional hatchback rather than a crossover, as well as the very positive reception to it New TwingoThis is likely what prompted other manufacturers to want to make their own products. The smallest of Kia’s current offerings is EV2which has a crossover aesthetic, so it’s longer and has more space, but it still falls into the B segment or what Europeans call a compact car.
This means Kia could become smaller, as confirmed by the brand’s European marketing head Autocar The company is considering the possibility of launching something similar to the Picanto electric car. David Hilbert explained, “The entire industry is looking at how to make electric vehicles more accessible. And of course we are doing that as well. We will continue to look at where the opportunities are, and obviously it’s called EV2 for a reason.”
Photo by: Kia
It’s called the EV2 specifically to make room for the smaller EV1, which will not only be smaller, but also feature a smaller battery that should help bring down its price. The EV2 has a long-range battery option that offers roughly 280 miles (450 km) on the WLTP test cycle, but there’s no need for that much range really in a small urban commuter that’ll never leave town.
Kia’s partner, Hyundai, already offers a sub-4-meter electric car focused on urban areas in Europe, Interbut the EV1 likely won’t be mechanically related, since the Inster is just an electric version of the Korean-market Casper city car (which doesn’t have an equivalent model from Kia). Both the Inster and EV2 have a 42kWh battery pack in base form, but it only grows to 49kWh in the long-range Inster, while the EV2 takes it to 62kWh, which is why it has as much range as it does.
Hilbert made it sound like Kia still wasn’t convinced it needed to build an EV1 when he said, “Longer term, we’re continuing to look at the A segment. The Picanto (is still) an important model for us, and we’re still getting very significant (sales) volume from that.” However, whether the car can be designed to fit within the European Union remains undetermined Electronic car categorywhich would allow it to forego some active safety features and sell it at a lower price than cars built before that segment was designated, could give the manufacturer an advantage.
The European Union is expected to issue its regulations for e-cars by the end of January, and once that is done, Kia and other manufacturers will decide whether they want to enter the sector or not. Alex Papatropoulos, head of product and pricing at Kia Europe, was quoted by Autocar as saying that the manufacturer is “looking closely at what the EU has been doing,” referring specifically to e-cars, adding, “I’m not worried, because we have in our product plan the toolkit that allows us to adapt and adapt to whatever will be announced.”
Reno 5 currently has this segment to itself. Current rivals include the aforementioned Inster, BYD Seagull, Leapmotor T03, Dacia Spring, Kia EV2, Citroën ë-C3 and the very high-priced Fiat Grande Panda EV. But a new Renault Twingo E-Tech is just around the corner, as it stands Dacia EV is cheaperwhich will be revealed soon, and Hyundai is rumored to be working on a model that could be called the Ioniq 2. Volkswagen is also preparing to launch it Identity. Polo And the ID. Cross models, meaning this sector is about to become more populated and more competitive.
