Curiously, instead of the explosion of sales everyone expected, the EV sector is at a crossroads today. However, some daredevils seek to conquer the market just like Tesla has already done.
About a year ago, the perspectives for 2023 were pretty bonkers as far as zero emissions models were concerned. Automakers selling EVs looked ready to take over the market; prices finally started to drop, ranges were on the rise, and dozens of new models seemed prepared to take over the markets – including in America.
However, the optimism has quickly vanished if you're not Tesla, and the perspectives for 2024 look a lot less encouraging – demand is lackluster out of the bloom, the charging infrastructure still hasn't caught up with the current market threshold, and the ICE-powered mania is back with a swing. Many carmakers are also facing an abundance of issues – especially on the software front, making them look sillier than Tesla's usual predicaments.
Kia is among the select few that still have faith in the EV revolution. Last fall, the first annual Kia EV Day revealed the acceleration of their zero emissions strategy with a focus on expanding their E-GMP-based EVx series plus the growth of the charging infrastructure. As such, the EV6 that's already on sale was joined by the all-new EV9 three-row crossover – and currently, the first real-world tests seem to indicate this is a monster of a road-tripper that's well worth the money.
Besides those two, Kia will also bring to market the EV5 in China plus the production versions of the Concept EV3 and Concept EV4 – eventually, their US lineup will span EVs priced from just $30k to around $80k. Obviously, the EV6 and EV9 are in the middle and towards the top of that range, so that leaves a lot of space for cheap EVs, too.
However, the rumor mill hasn't forgotten about Kia and Hyundai's promise to join the full-size EV pickup truck party, even if the South Koreans might want to take a step back and see what happens with the Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer EV, and Ford F-150 Lightning when attacked by the Chevy Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, Ram 1500 REV, and especially the mighty Tesla Cybertruck.
As such, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has also taken an interest in Hyundai and Kia's potential EV truck endeavors. More precisely, this virtual artist, better known as SRK Designs on social media, has decided to trust his CGI instinct and come up with a dreamy Kia EV pickup truck after first presenting us with the unofficial Hyundai version.
The latter seemed thoroughly inspired by the Hyundai Palisade because it looked like it could easily get ICE, hybrid, PHEV, and EV powertrains on board. On this Kia occasion, though, the pixel master focused exclusively on the concept of a Kia EV pickup truck. Obviously inspired by the EVx series, this hypothetical Kia representative in the field of EV pickup trucks would use the E-GMP underpinnings to try to threaten the American establishment.
Interestingly, the cool design doesn't seem like the only asset – this design project also features a set of Rolls-Royce-like coach doors that would make it quite distinctive across the current full-size EV pickup truck landscape. Well, standing out in a crowd is always better than just rolling with the pack. So, would you like to see this in the real world, and do you think it would sell fast if Kia gave it the same performance characteristics and a similar price to the EV9?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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