CarBrandLogos archive · Kia · 2021
An 800-volt shooting brake that made the rest of the industry look slow to charge.
Discover the storyPhoto: Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Kia EV6, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The EV6 was the first Kia designed from the outset around the Hyundai Motor Group's E-GMP electric platform rather than adapted from a combustion car. That architecture runs at 800 volts, roughly double the norm for mainstream electric cars when the EV6 appeared in 2021, which allowed charging rates that few rivals at the price could match and made long journeys practical in a way its competitors did not.
Kia EV6 GT-Line IAA 2021 1X7A0111 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0
02
The platform also permitted a flat floor, a long wheelbase and short overhangs, and Lee Hyo-Sung and Choi Hong-Seok used that freedom to draw something specific rather than generic. Kia describes the body as a five-door shooting brake, and the low tapering roof and full-width rear light bar distinguish it sharply from the retro-square Ioniq 5 built on the same underpinnings. Power goes to the rear wheels as standard through a single motor and single-speed reduction gear, with a dual-motor all-wheel-drive option above it.
2022 Kia EV6 Air Long Range 2WD · DieselFordMondeo · CC BY-SA 4.0
03
E-GMP brought a second unusual feature: vehicle-to-load, which turns the car into a power source for external equipment through an adapter.
Kia EV6 GT-Line Leonberg 2022 1X7A0531 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0
04
The EV6 was named European Car of the Year for 2022, the first Korean car to win the award, and a high-output GT version followed with performance figures that put it alongside cars from far more expensive brands. Production runs in Hwaseong in South Korea and, for the North American market, at the group's Georgia plant.
At a glance
Produced
2021–presentBody
5-door shooting brakeTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the EV6's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →From the journal
Contemporaries from the 2020s
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