We took a first look at the EV9 in a studio in Seongdong-gu, which Kia bosses described to us as the Seoul equivalent of Shoreditch - and if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about the brand’s outlook, go and have a pint at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane on a Saturday afternoon.
Kia’s transformation into one of the most fashionable and socially conscious marques on the market continues at a blistering pace, and with the EV9 it is applying that ethos to a car the likes of which it has never produced before.
Bosses are keen to avoid using the words ‘premium’ and ‘luxury’ when talking about the car, and that ties in to an unwillingness to paint the EV9 as out-of-reach for the young families for whom it has been so obviously conceived.
“We are in the midst of an inter-generational gap,” explained Karim Habib. “And I think you can see that in Korea: there's a population that's ageing, but at the same time, we see that in our design department, there's a lot of power to use the culture.”
The EV9, then, has been designed to appeal to those older buyers who have historically been loyal to the German stalwart premium brands, at the same time as going after the younger buyers whose custom will be so crucial to the success of Kia’s forward strategy.
Whether a car this large, family-focused and expensive can truly capture a share of the youth vote remains to be seen, but as a halo product, the implications the EV9 has for the styling and technology of future A- and B-segment models are evident - and intriguing.
It’s a similar approach to Volvo, whose £100,000 EX90 will spawn a much more affordable and compact crossover aimed at attracting non-traditional customers to the brand.
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Ha ha ha £80k. Car prices are ridiculous these days!
Good luck car industry, it's a washing machine crossed with a laptop for most of the price of a small flat outside of London
Is Felix Page being wilfully stupid? Did he not have his morning coffee today? Or got no Kelloggs from his partner? Did the sun rise on the West for him today?
All depends if your younger buyer can actually afford it at the moment doesn't it?, starts at £60K, not many are looking at the this price level for a car,traditionally it was when you got into your 40-50's you might have the income,now, at the moment?
My point as well.
By the way, do younger buyers need a seven seater?
Do they have the garage or driveway which is essential for charging an electric vehicle?
I am not familiar with PCP or subscription prices for electric cars as a % of outright purchase price, which are clorely related to depreciation. Do electric cars actually depreciate more or less than ICE ones? On one side they have fewer parts that are prone to wear and tear, on the other the batteries are not only losing performance over time, but they are also a technology that's evolving; the capacity and range of a 5 or 10 years old car would still be hardly acceptable today even if it were still at the same level as it was when the car was built. Plus, it's not. Would that not affect resale value?