Kia Reveals EV6 Electric Model With Brand New Design Language

We now know what the Kia EV6 looks like, but that’s about it.

The automaker’s still mum on specs, but at least they did reveal the upcoming Kia EV6 Monday. From first glance, it’s a major departure from the EVs we’ve seen so far, much in the same spirit as sister company Hyundai with the Ioniq 5 crossover. Here, we have a more aggressive-looking package with more of an attitude, including more curves and sharper angles. You can still see a bit of the classic tiger nose in the grille (at least from the bottom), but it’s not as pronounced as I imagined with the teasers.

If anything, the front aims to be sporty, but it may not necessarily put you back on your heels. Head around to the rear, however, and you’ll probably spend a good few minutes just trying to work out all the styling details. there’s the LED light that cuts down each side at an angle that jets straight across the rear tailgate. That’s fair enough, but then there’s the shape of the tailgate itself. Looking from the top down, you get the same coupe-like sweeping glass you’d expect in a sportier looking crossover. Al is well, then it just stops, befor you get this great slab of slightly punched-in metal with Kia’s new corporate logo across the middle.

From there, you get more brightwork connecting the taillights along the bottom of the tailgate, a floating roofline when you look at it in profile. I can’t help but think how that thin glass is going to affect the EV6’s actual usefulness, though. Rear visibility will likely be a bit scarce, but we’ll have to wait to actually test the car to find out with certainty.

The interior looks pretty normal

Take a gander inside the new Kia EV6, and the interior looks fairly normal. You have your rotary dial gear selector, dual displays for instruments and infotainment, a floating center console, and a surprising amount of physical buttons spread about the driver’s compartment. The dual-spoke steering wheel is unusual for the brand, though not unprecedented within the Hyundai family thanks to the new Genesis GV80.

What Kia did not mention about the EV6 Monday was anything to do with powertrains. The car rides atop the E-GMP platform, but that’s all we know with certainty at this point. Odds are, specs will fall similar to what we see with the Hyundai Ioniq 5. That is, rear-wheel drive single-motor or all-wheel drive dual-motor options, with power ranging between 215 (RWD) and 302 (AWD). Two battery packs are available for the Hyundai, in either 58 kWh or 77.4 kWh forms.

As for when the new car will be on sale, we expect that to happen sometime in the back half of this year, though that’s not official yet either.