This file photo provided by Kia Corp. shows the EV9 GT-line model.
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Kia Corp., South Korea’s second-biggest carmaker, said Wednesday it is targeting to sell 1 million electric vehicles in 2026 as it seeks to morph into a “sustainable mobility solutions provider.”
Kia plans to launch the all-electric EV9 flagship SUV in the domestic market during the first half of this year and gradually fill its EV lineup with 15 models by 2027, the company said at this year’s CEO Investor Day.
The maker of K5 sedans and Sorento SUVs plans to add the EV9 GT-line and the performance EV9 GT models to the EV lineup later this year.
The GT-line model adopts the design of the performance GT model to meet diverse customer demands.
The EV9 is Kia’s second model equipped with Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated EV platform, called E-GMP, after the EV6 SUV launched in 2021.
Kia plans to apply its connectivity services to most new vehicles to be launched after 2025 to keep them constantly updated by upgrading the vehicles’ digital features and services without taking them to dealerships.
The company also plans to complete a purpose-built vehicle (PBV) plant in the Autoland Hwaseong factory by the end of 2024 and start producing midsized PBVs in July 2025.
PBVs can be used as robo taxis, unmanned cargo carriers, movable offices or for other purposes.
In 2025, the company said it will launch a midsized PBV and gradually introduce a PBV-based robo taxi with an autonomous driving technology and large PBVs later.
The company is targeting to sell a total of 4.01 million vehicles, including the 1 million EVs, in global markets in 2026. It aims to achieve an operating profit of 12 trillion won on sales of 134 trillion won in the same year.
This file photo provided by Kia Corp. shows the EV6 running on a street.
Last year, Kia sold a total of 2.9 million vehicles globally. Among them, only 158,000 units, or 5.4 percent, were battery-powered ones.
In the long term, Kia plans to invest 32 trillion won (US$24.4 billion) in future mobility in the next five years and aims to sell 1.6 million EVs in 2030.
In 2030, the company has set a sales goal of 4.3 million vehicles, including the 1.6 million battery-powered ones, to achieve an operating profit of 16 trillion won on sales of 160 trillion won.
The business targets are sharply higher than the goals of an operating profit of 9.3 trillion won on sales of 97.6 trillion won for this year.
In 2023, the company set a sales goal of 3.2 million units, including overseas sales of 2.6 million.
From January to March, its vehicle sales rose 12 percent to 767,700 units from 685,738 in the same period last year.
(Yonhap)
