Kia Australia recently hosted a fleet drive day at Norwell Motorplex in Queensland, showcasing its EV5 midsize SUV with on-track and on-road seat time for potential customers.
Fleet EV News attended the event and got an early taste of the EV5 model range, but we can’t comment on how it drives just yet. At least, not until after the upcoming media launch.
The core range consists of two models, the Air and Earth, with both standard and long-range battery options and the choice of front- or all-wheel drive layouts. We spent time in both, but there is also a GT-Line model coming, which we are yet to see in the metal.
At the event, we sat down with Kia Australia General Manager of Fleet, Chris Forbes, to talk about the EV5 range and its fleet sales potential.
“It’s a pretty major model for us, and so it performs a big part of our NVES strategy for next year and beyond,” Mr Forbes said.
“So, we need to make sure that we get everyone, and our dealers as well, into them – because fleet is going to be a big part of this.”
While the EV9 large SUV was also on display at the event, the smaller EV5 comes in at nearly half the price and is a more appealing option for many fleet customers.
“The biggest segment of passenger motor vehicles in Australia is the midsize SUV, and this sits right in that segment,” Mr Forbes said.
“The EV9 is a very specific car, and it’s not cheap, so this one has a lot more appeal for that market that is looking for a perfect-sized vehicle and that is wanting to transition to EV.”
While not able to comment on specific sales volume expectations, Mr Forbes told us that “in an ideal world it could be 50/50” across the fleet and consumer sales split.
In terms of who the EV5 will appeal to, Mr Forbes said he expects it will be a “a mix” of existing and new customers, but reiterated that this model will appeal to a broad array of buyers.
“It’s government who, through policy, are making their way through that EV transition, it’s corporates who, again, are making board decisions to move down that EV path as well,” he said.
“Then there’s councils and not-for-profits who want to be moving down the path.”
While not yet ANCAP rated, which is a deal breaker for most fleets, Mr Forbes confirmed the process is underway and expects it will receive a rating by Q3 of this year.
“We’re having to do it ourselves locally, which takes time and money, but we expect that a result will be forthcoming,” he said.
“But we have built this vehicle to attain five stars.”
In a bid to bolster supply, with Kia Australia clearly confident about the sales potential of the EV5 model, it has secured manufacturing out of a factory in China.
“There will be good supply and that’s due to the fact that it’s coming from one of our Chinese factories, as opposed to from Korea,” Mr Forbes said.
“When vehicles come from the Korean factories, they’re accessed by a number of different countries around the world – including Europe.
“This is a first for us, having a car out of China and we’re the first country in the world to do it.”
While specific local pricing is yet to be confirmed, the EV5 is priced at NZ$67,368 over the ditch which equates to around $60,000 here. This puts it slightly above the Tesla Model Y, starting from $55,900 after recent price cuts.
Back in April, however, Kia Australia confirmed it plans to price the EV5 below the Model Y, suggesting it may come in at a lower price point than expected – based on the NZ to AUD conversion.
“We think it’ll be competitive,” Mr Forbes said of the price, also confirming that fleet customers will be offered special pricing.
While Kia Australia plans to competitively price the EV5, Mr Forbes made it clear the company is not buying into the price slashing tactics of other electric vehicle manufacturers.
“We’ve been very consistent with pricing, so we have maintained pricing on our EV’s,” he said.
“While some may say we’ve been outpriced by a number of our competitors, we’re still doing very well and part of that is that we’ve got a very good base of customers that believe in our product.
“And while residual values for electric vehicles aren’t great at the moment, ours are probably trending better than some others.
“We’ve gone in with a strategy to build a solid base of customers, both fleet and retail, and work on that as opposed to trying to move metal by dropping prices.”
We will share our thoughts on how the EV5 drives, performs and stacks up against the competition in the coming weeks.
