South Korean automaker Kia has announced grand ambitions for its electrification at its 2023 CEO Investor Day in Seoul on April 5.
Kia declared a new electric vehicle sales target of 1.6 million units. That figure indicates a significant adjustment of 400,000 units from last year’s initial 1.2 million guidance.
Overall, the automaker aims to sell 4.3 million vehicles, regardless of powertrain, which means EVs will hold 37% of the total volume by 2030.
Electrification strategy changes
During the company’s annual Investor Day, Kia CEO Ho Sung Song proudly declared the company’s goal to become an “EV tier 1 brand.” That said, Kia has cultivated the following strategies:
- Global sales: 2030 global sales goal of 4.3 million units
- Electrification: Annual EV sales goal of 1.6 million units by 2030 with 15 EV models by 2027
- Product Strategy: Kia to apply connectivity to all new models by 2025
- Purpose-Built Vehicles (PBV): To establish a tailored business structure and offer an integrated solution for PBV; launch a dedicated PBV in 2025
Note: These data are directly obtained from Kia’s official press release.
Apart from that, Kia has also outlined the following objectives:
- Upgrade battery technology from Gen 3 to Gen 5 to enhance energy density by 50%
- Deploy 3,500 ultra-fast chargers in Korea by 2025 while collaborating internationally to increase charging infrastructure
As it attempts to carve out a place for itself in the new EV era, Kia’s first goal is to sell 258,000 electric vehicles by the end of 2023.
Then, the automaker will increase that figure to more than 1 million EVs by 2026, a 25% growth from earlier forecasts.
Notably, two new EV models will be produced in the South Korean automaker’s first dedicated EV plant, which will open in Gwangmyeong in 2024.
Would it be enough?
The fact that Kia increased its EV sales guidance is remarkable. However, it still only accounts for 37% of the automaker’s 2030 total sales target.
In contrast, a few automakers, like Tesla, have already achieved double-digit (or 100%) EV sales. In 2022 alone, Tesla sold a whopping 1.2 million EVs. The first quarter of 2023 also set a record with over 422,000 deliveries.
Meanwhile, legacy brands like Ford, GM, and Stellantis aim for only 40% to 50% EV market share by the decade’s end.
See Also:
- Cars.com named the 2023 Kia Niro EV its “Top Pick: Commuter EV”
- Hyundai and Kia develop one-armed robot for EV charging
- Kia sold almost 80,000 EV6s in 2022
- Wholesale shipments of the Kia EV6 increased in February 2023
- Kia releases teaser video of the upcoming EV9 indicating its reveal date
That said, waiting until beyond 2030 would not be ideal, especially not with just 37% EV sales. Indeed, more needs to be done, such as halting the production of ICE vehicles.
