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During the month of October, Kia’s EV6 hit the news twice. First, the company made some routine pricing announcements for the 2024 model year. Second, Kia managed to win an award for the GT version of the vehicle from TIME Magazine. Let’s take a look at each announcement!
2024 EV6 Pricing
As it enters its third model year, the all-electric 2024 EV6 continues to play a vital role in Kia’s “Plan S” strategy.
The 2024 model introduces the 77.4-kWh battery to the EV6 Light, along with two new trim designations: rear-wheel drive (RWD) and all-wheel drive (e-AWD). This puts the 2024 EV6 GT at an EPA-estimated range of 218 miles, representing a 12-mile improvement compared to the 2023 EV6 GT. Additionally, all EV6 models now feature standard charge port lighting and charge door marking, enhancing accessibility.
Manufacturer Suggested Retail Pricing (before $1,325 destination fee):
- EV6 Light RWD $42,600
- EV6 Light Long Range RWD $45,950
- EV6 Light e-AWD $49,850
- EV6 Wind RWD $48,700
- EV6 Wind e-AWD $52,600
- EV6 GT-Line RWD $52,900
- EV6 GT-Line e-AWD $57,600
- EV6 GT $61,600
Specifications For Each Trim Level:
- EV6 Light RWD: 232 miles EPA range, 58.0 kWh, 167 hp
- EV6 Light Long Range RWD: 310 miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 225 hp
- EV6 Wind RWD: 310 Miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 225 hp
- EV6 GT-Line RWD: 310 miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 225 hp
- EV6 Light e-AWD: 282 miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 320 hp
- EV6 Wind e-AWD: 282 miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 320 hp
- EV6 GT-Line e-AWD: 252 miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 320 hp
- EV6 GT: 218 miles EPA range, 77.4 kWh, 576 hp
All trims get a pretty good assortment of standard safety and assist features, including:
- Blind Spot Collision Assistance (BCA)
- Driver Attention Warning (DAW) with Leading Vehicle Departure Alert
- Forward Collision Avoidance Assist – Car & Pedestrian and Junction Turning
- Highway Driving Assist (HDA)
- High Beam Assist (HBA)
- Lane Following Assist (LFA)
- Lane Departure Warning (LDW)
- Lane Keep Assist (LKA)
- Intelligent Speed Limit Assist (ISLA)
- Navigation-Based Smart Cruise Control Curve (NSCC-C)
- Parking Distance Warning – Reverse (PDW-R) w/off switch
- Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Avoidance Assist (RCCA)
- Rear Occupant Alert – Door Logic Type (ROA)
- Safe Exit Assist (SEW)
The 2024 EV6 is expected to go on sale in Fall 2023.
The EV6 GT Wins An Award
The Kia EV6 GT has been named one of TIME‘s Best Inventions of 2023 in the Transportation category. Recognizing outstanding innovations that have the potential to change our lives, this annual list features 200 extraordinary products and ideas that the team has become aware of during the year.
“The EV6 GT defied expectations by combining Kia’s ‘Opposites United’ design philosophy and focus on sustainable mobility with supercar power and performance,” said Steven Center, COO & EVP, Kia America. “Building on the momentum from Kia America being the only automotive company in the U.S. named to the 2023 TIME100 List of Most Influential Companies, we are honored by this latest recognition for the most powerful Kia production vehicle ever.”
To curate the list, TIME‘s editors and correspondents worldwide gather nominations, both through an online application process and personal selection based on their knowledge. They place particular emphasis on emerging fields like AI, green energy, and sustainability. Each nominee is carefully evaluated based on a range of essential criteria, including originality, effectiveness, ambition, and impact. According to TIME, this lengthy and meticulous process ensures that only the most deserving contenders make it to the final list.
“The result is a list of 200 groundbreaking inventions (and 50 special mention inventions)—including the world’s most powerful supercomputer, a game-changing entertainment venue, and a new shape—that are changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible,” said the TIME editors.
This isn’t the only award the EV6 GT has racked up in 2023. Earlier this year, the Kia EV6 GT clinched the prestigious 2023 World Performance Car award. Boasting an impressive 576 HP, a lightning-fast 0–60 MPH acceleration time of just 3.4 seconds, and a top speed of 161 MPH, it managed to beat out many ICE models, winning an overall award and not just an award for an EV category.
Kia Has Come A Long Way
In the 1990s, Kia wasn’t exactly known for quality, and the cars weren’t known for performance. Entering markets already dominated by American, European, and Japanese cars, the Korean automaker had to convince a lot of people that their cars were a good option, and sadly didn’t earn much respect at first. But, in the two decades since, Kia has managed to make a much better name for themselves, first by becoming more reliable and then by starting to offer some seriously fast and fun cars to the motoring public.
Kia doesn’t tell people how things improved, but the company seemed to pull out of the early slump a lot faster than many other historical automakers, so it was probably a mix of gaining experience and learning from others’ mistakes.
Today, Kia and its sister company Hyundai, plus the performance/luxury brand Genesis, all offer EVs that are arguably better than what Tesla sells. They’re solid in build quality and performance. They’ve proven to be reliable. They’ve got their own unique styling that doesn’t go as far from automotive norms. They can often charge faster with their 800-volt battery voltage architecture (Tesla is still on 400-volt systems). On top of all that, they’ve got two-way charging capabilities through a V2L adapter that can be plugged into the normal charging port.
Now, we know that Kia’s offering some competitively-priced vehicles with all of these advantages, including a performance model that’s definitely no slouch. So, it’s clear that the company’s a serious player today.
The only thing really holding the company back is the same thing holding most EV manufacturers back: charging infrastructure. There are serious efforts both by government and private industry to get the CCS and CHAdeMO charging networks back on track, but this has been a tough thing for car sales and it’s not a problem that will go away overnight.
But, earlier this month, the company announced that they’re going to start offering access to Tesla’s Supercharger network starting next year. So, this problem is going to be solved in two ways now. It will be interesting to see how the company does next year!
Featured image provided by Kia.
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