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Waiting times for the Kia EV6 electric car will be cut next year, as the number of vehicles allocated to Australia increases by 250 per cent – but that still won’t be enough to meet demand, the company says.
Up to 2500 Kia EV6 electric cars are earmarked for local showrooms next year – almost four times Australia’s allocation for this year – but the company says it still won’t be enough to meet customer demand.
But the number of Kia EV6 vehicles coming to Australia in 2023 is set to multiply, to approximately 2500 examples – three and a half times more than 2022’s allocation.
Despite the sharp increase, Kia Australia says it still expects to receive more customer orders than it can deliver.
“In our business plan, we will be [selling] about 2500 cars next year, of EV6s,” Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith told Drive.
“We won’t be able to get enough, but we’ll probably get three to four times more than what we got this year. So that’s a great fill up.
“So we’re happy about that. Could we get more? We hope we can. Do we need more? Yes, we do,” said Mr Meredith.
A Kia Australia spokesperson told Drive the company “expect[s] wait times to decrease” with the “substantial” increase in EV6 supply – however “to what extent, we can’t confirm.”
Customers have been advised this year to expect wait times of up to 12 months, according to Kia Australia – however a spokesperson told Drive a customer’s car could arrive in less time depending on shipping and production schedules, model grade and colour.
Mr Meredith told Australian media in June 2022 the company “could sell about 3000 [EV6s] annually, based on current demand” – when the number of EV6s allocated to Australia stood at 600 for 2022.
The Kia EV6 range will expand early next year with the high-performance GT model, capable of a supercar-like 0-100km/h sprint in 3.5 seconds – but a price tag expected just shy of $100,000 before on-road costs.
When asked if there is a defined split in the 2500-car allocation between current EV6 Air and GT-Line, and upcoming EV6 GT variants, Mr Meredith told Drive: “No, there’s not a set split.
We’ll try to satisfy the order mix with the three now, so fingers crossed we do a reasonable job on that. I think that with the top of the range, customers have been placing orders for that [GT flagship] since we launched EV6.”
“What we’re trying to do is we’ll try to – as we have since we launched EV6 – satisfy the orders, but obviously, the demand’s still a lot higher than the supply,” said Mr Meredith.
When combined with Kia’s smaller Niro electric SUV, the significant boost in Australia’s EV6 allocation could allow Kia to overtake sister brand Hyundai in the electric-car sales race.
Hyundai has reported more than 2000 electric vehicles as sold since the start of this year, compared to an estimated 750 Kia electric cars over the same period.
While Hyundai is also expected to increase supply of its twin to the Kia EV6 – the retro-styled Ioniq 5 – it will lose the Ioniq Electric hatchback from its showrooms from the end of this year, which has accounted for about 30 per cent of Hyundai electric sales.
Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
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