Home Car News Kia EV6 design to merge with EV9

Kia EV6 design to merge with EV9

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Kia’s first dedicated electric car will get design and tech refresh to bring it in line with larger EV9.

The Kia EV6 is set to get a completely new look, with the facelifted car heralding a major redesign to bring it closer in appearance to the brand’s newly-launched EV9 flagship.

Due towards the middle of 2024, the EV6 – Kia’s first dedicated electric car and the basis for a deluge of forthcoming EV-badged models – will get a cleaner front end and more distinctive daytime running lights (DRLs), our partner Auto Express can reveal.

Marketing director for Kia Europe, David Hilbert, told us: “Some time in the future, there will be enhancements to [EV6], and having that common design language [with EV9] will be something to look forward to.”

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Hilbert wouldn’t elaborate on exactly which “enhancements” the EV6 would get, but hinted that commonality with the EV9 and EV5 SUVs, plus the EV3 and EV4 concepts, is all but a given.

This should mean the EV6 gets a slimmer set of headlights, as well as more recognisable vertical DRLs. It’s likely Kia will remove the current car’s narrow grille in favour of a single piece of slim black trim, while implementing a flatter front end, too. Expect the EV6’s fundamental shape to remain, with no dimensional changes planned at this stage.

All of Kia’s most recent models – EV3, EV4, EV5 and EV9 – share their so-called ‘Starmap’ tail-light design, so it’s likely the EV6 will adopt a similar signature next year. However, the current car’s rear clusters are connected via a full-width lightbar – it remains to be seen whether chief designer Karim Habib will incorporate the new look while also retaining this original defining feature.

Inside the facelifted EV6, we expect a significant tech upgrade, possibly lifting the EV9’s three-screen layout wholesale. This would eliminate the need for the EV6’s slightly-fiddly touch panel, which cycles between the climate control and media functions – possibly adding physical buttons for the heating and ventilation like those found in the EV9.

We don’t expect huge changes under the skin, with the EV6 retaining its E-GMP platform and range of rear and dual-motor powertrains. The EV9 is offered with a larger 99.8kWh battery than the EV6, but this is unlikely to find its way into the smaller car, due both to size and weight. The Tesla Model 3 rival will retain its 800-volt architecture and high peak charge speed, however, for a 10-80 per cent top-up in less than 20 minutes.

Hilbert wouldn’t give us a definite time frame for the revised EV6, but said “Every three years is a facelift, and then a full model change every six.” This would suggest we’re likely to see camouflaged cars testing early in 2024, before a full reveal sometime in the summer.