Kia's first U.S. launch was the unremarkable Sephia in the early 1990s. It was a basic three-box sedan powered by a 1.8 liter Mazda engine, priced around $10,000. The Sportage SUV arrived the year after and the models laid the groundwork for what would become a budget-friendly brand for price-conscious American buyers.
Fast forward 30 years and Kia is attempting to shed that image entirely and become known for tech-savvy, high-quality EVs that rival premium brands.
This kicks off the mid-week edition of Critical Materials, your daily round up of news and events shaping the world of electric cars. Also on today's list: the possibility of the Inflation Reduction Act being watered down by a Trump administration is a "scary thought" for Rivian and Xiaomi's "Apple EV" is already helping the smartphone giant beat earnings estimates.
30%: Kia's Transformation From Budget Brand To Tech Leader
Kia's transformation began in the late 2000s, when it hired German car designer and Audi's former design chief Peter Schreyer. With Schreyer helming the design side of things, models like the Optima metamorphosed from bland cars to ones that (sort of) became head-turners. He introduced the "tiger nose" grille that pretty much every Kia has flaunted since the late 2000s.
Moreover, Kia started getting better at what American brands mastered: building SUVs. Gas-powered models like the Sportage and Sorento kept getting bigger and plusher with striking designs.
Both those models eventually got hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains and even the 2025 Carnival minivan now has a hybrid trim. And with EVs, it's a different story altogether. The EV6 and EV9 are both back-to-back homeruns.
Here's more from Automotive News:
Kia America is enjoying its new status among young car buyers as a stylish, tech-forward electric vehicle maker. Last December, Kia's third EV, the three-row EV9, went on sale in the U.S., helping round out its selection of battery-powered crossovers and bring additional cachet to the brand.
Not only is the EV9 the sole electric three-row offering in the mainstream market, it also dethroned the EV6 GT as Kia's most expensive vehicle, helping to push the image of the brand further away from its value-oriented past. With a price point that scratches $80,000 when fully loaded, the automaker is hoping to attract the same affluent millennial EV buyers as Tesla and Rivian.
That characterization, even though flowery, is rooted in facts.
Kia EV6 sales were up nearly 40% in the second quarter. I'm personally not a big fan of its design but people seem to like it. It's angular headlamps and the ducktail rear spoiler indeed make it look swanky. It has trims that can cover more than 300 miles on a single charge and thanks to Hyundai Motor Group's 800-volt E-GMP platform, it charges from 10-80% in just 18 minutes, if you plug into a fast enough charger.
It can get over-the-air updates and power external appliances thanks to a feature called vehicle-to-load (V2L). That's bi-directional charging where the car's battery can be used as a portable power bank. Heck, the EV6 even helped Houston residents power their homes during the recent hurricane Beryl. It's so good that InsideEVs' Editor-In-Chief Patrick George bought one for himself.
And then the EV9 is in a league of its own. The three-row electric SUV isn't as expensive as the Rivian R1T or the Tesla Model X. Its rear-wheel-drive Long Range trim sits in a sweet spot where no rivals exist yet. It can cover over 300 miles on a single charge, has enough space to move homes and transport your family and all their luggage comfortably over long distances. "Unlike other EVs, the EV9 doesn’t feel like it has some weird caveat or compromise, it’s the perfect vessel to get ordinary folks into an electric vehicle and feel happy about the entire process," InsideEVs' Kevin Williams wrote in his first drive review of the car.
But I'm afraid Kia—and every other brand that's serious about EVs—may have to embrace the budget-brand image again. Several industry executives, including Ford's CEO Jim Farley, believe that the future of mass-market EVs can't be with oversized SUVs and trucks plonked with massive batteries. It may be about making compact, highly efficient and aerodynamic models that are cheap to buy and run.
The upcoming Kia EV3 and EV4 promise just that. Now we'll see if they can continue the momentum the EV6 and EV9 have built for the brand.
60%: China's "Apple Car" Rakes In Nearly A Billion Dollars
Chinese technology behemoth Xiaomi hyped up its first-ever electric car by beating Apple to it. Now it's proving that the EV wasn't a gamble or a shot in the air, but a well-planned project that's starting to pay off.
The SU7 electric sedan is a Tesla Model 3 competitor with Chevy Bolt prices. It starts at $30,000 in China for a 295 horsepower version that can cover 343 miles on the overly optimistic China Light-Duty Test Cycle (CLTC), drawing power from a 73.6 kWh LFP battery from BYD. Its Pro trim is only about $4,000 more expensive but gets an 800-volt architecture and a bigger 94.3 kWh CATL battery pack that delivers 515 miles of range. These are incredible specs.
Plus the EV can be seamlessly interconnected to Xiaomi's ecosystem of phones, TVs, smart home systems and home theaters.
Here's more from Reuters:
For the three months ending in June, Xiaomi's revenue rose 32% to 88.9 billion yuan, beating the 85.8 billion yuan estimated by analysts, according to LSEG.
It delivered 27,307 EVs in the second quarter, generating 6.2 billion yuan in revenue ($869.2 million). This is its first financial report to include details of its auto business segment.
In a media call following the earnings report, Xiaomi's President Lu Weibing said he is "confident" the company will reach its target of delivering 120,000 electric vehicles by year-end.
To be clear, Xiaomi’s EV business isn’t profitable yet. The adjusted loss for the quarter was 1.8 billion yuan ($252 million), with a gross margin of 15.4%. Still, Xiaomi couldn’t have asked for a better start and remains confident that profitability is within reach as deliveries scale up.
90%: Rivian Fears The Potential Repeal Of The IRA
With the ongoing Democratic National Convention, where high-profile speakers like Barack and Michelle Obama have hyped up the Harris-Walz campaign, the Democrats are building some momentum as we close in on the presidential elections in November.
Still, the race is expected to be extremely close and another four years of Donald Trump are certainly possible. That could spell doom for EV incentives.
The Biden-Harris Administration's landmark Inflation Reduction Act allocated billions of dollars to turbocharge EV sales and manufacturing in the U.S. The federal government has distributed $23 billion in loans and grants in EV and battery manufacturing so far, Automotive News reported. Plus buyers had saved $1.8 billion on EV purchases through point-of-sale credits in the first half of this year.
Here's more from the publication:
At the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in August, Chris Nevers, Rivian's senior director of public policy, said that going backward now would amount to "basically yanking the rug out from underneath all those suppliers and manufacturers that invested either domestically or in some of our trading partners. "That's really scary," he added.
Federal funding plays a crucial role in helping automakers offset the capital-intensive investments required for EVs. The incentives may eventually run out and the deep discounts on EVs might need to be scaled back to allow for more organic growth. But that day is not today and the current EV policies need to run through the decade, especially if the goal is to reap tangible benefits from electrification on the planet.
100%: Would You Buy An EV Without Incentives?
If the $7,500 federal tax credit was rolled back, would you still buy an EV? How important are the offers on leases and financing, plus the federal tax credits for your car-buying decisions? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
