Kia 2023 CEO Investor Day Shares New Plans
A year ago, the Kia Corp shared its vision for the rest of the decade during its 2022 CEO Investor Day. Lots of target goals were announced for the electrification of Kia, as well as new automotive technologies and plans for future models. Not a whole lot has happened since last year, the automaker is winning tons of awards, but in terms of production and deployment, we’re just now getting the specs for the EV9 and word of the EV5. Every year, Kia wanted to release two new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) between 2023 and 2027. That’s one objective going well, but what about the rest?
Global Sales
In 2022, Kia was aiming for a sales goal of 3.15 million eco-friendly vehicles, 5-percent of which would be from BEVs. 2023 is very similar, with an annual sales target of 3.2 million units. The numbers keep climbing, with 4.01 million in 2026, and 4.3 million units in 2030, 55-percent of which will come from electrified vehicles. This is a much larger increase compared to their initial goals of the Plan S Strategy, with 500,000 EVs worldwide and 1 million eco-friendly vehicles sold by 2026. Based on current sales, a lot of the fan favorites are still pulling the majority of the weight, such as the Kia Sportage, with 20,000 units sold versus the 4000 the EV6 sold. Of course, the EV6 was still new in 2022, and its year-to-date sales less than 2000 shy of their 2022 sales.
Plans for BEVs
As we mentioned, the goal of releasing two new BEVs a year is going well so far, but there is no official release date for the BEVs we’ve seen so far. We’re starting wonder if the automaker can bite off more than it can chew. In 2019, Kia claimed it would become the next all-electric automaker. There wasn’t a set date when that was supposed to happen, but the new goal is to release 15 BEVs by 2027.Simultaneously, the automaker is electrifying older models like the Kia Sportage PHEV and Kia Sorento PHEV.
More investments should be going into BEVs, especially when BEV sales should make up 25-percent of all sales by 2026 and 37-percent by 2030. The automaker just announced that electrified vehicles would make up 55-percent of all sales, though, so we can assume more electrified PHEVs than new all-electric models for a few more years. As more PHEVs and BEVs are produced, Kia wants to reach carbon neutrality by 2045.
Connectivity
Car connectivity was a big focus for last year, with goals aiming at 2025 and 2026 with OTA software update (Over-the-Air) and FoD (Feature-on-Demand) services. A range of autonomous driving technologies are also meant to pop up, with Level 3 autonomy in the Kia EV9, set for release some time this year (2023). Also featuring Highway Drive Pilot (HDP), a conditional level three autonomous driving technology that allows for hands-free driving, a newer tech for “eyes-free” driving is also slotted for the EV9 by 2026, plus car connectivity in all models by 2025. So far, this goal is well on its way to become a reality.
Purpose-Built Vehicles
Purpose-built vehicles, or PBVs, sound like a sci-fi fantasy sometimes. During the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Kia Corp and the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) showed off a video clip of a hospital on wheels, giving emergency services more tools to save lives in transit versus keeping someone stable on the way to the emergency room. Two months after the 2022 CEO Investor Day, Kia announced E-FOREST, a dedicated PBV facility with a goal of producing 100,000 PBVs a year. With construction slated for this year (2023) and a goal of mass production by 2025, this falls in line with PBV goals, all surrounding 2025 with a mid-size PBV available. Until then, smaller vehicles like robotaxis with autonomous driving capabilities and autonomous driving software are being tailored for the business for later integration
2030 and Beyond
Numbers seem to be all over the place. Kia wants 55-percent of all sales to come from electrified vehicles by 2030, with 37-percent of those being BEVs. Later in the conference, that number jumped up to 53-percent of all profits coming from BEVs. That would make sense if the automaker can meet its new target of 15 new BEVs.
Is Kia aiming too high or will we see good fortune for the automaker in the next 5-7 seven years? Join the discussion on Miami Lakes Automall social media.