2024 Kia EV3 to co-exist with Kia Niro EV

The upcoming 2024 Kia EV3 won’t expediate the axing of the established Kia Niro EV and global Kia executives are confident both small electric SUVs can co-exist in the Korean brand’s showrooms, at least for now.

According to Kia’s global business planning boss Spencer Cho, the EV3 and Niro EV will be available alongside each other in most major markets because they provide consumers with two flavours of small electric SUV, but the expectation is for the EV3 to be more popular.

“We’ll continue to sell Niro EV together with EV3 in the market,” he said at the EV3’s global reveal this week.

“Definitely, each market is different in taste or customer preference, so some markets might still prefer Niro EV but maybe some markets go for or have more weight for EV3.

“In the meantime, Niro has a hybrid model and we expect that they [customers] will have more weight for the Niro hybrid model rather than the EV model when we launch the EV3.

“So we have forecast for EV3 more on the EV-dedicated customers and Niro will be… for hybrid customers.”

The Niro first launched in Australia in 2021, offering consumers the choice of a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or battery-electric powertrains, and was Kia’s first battery-electric model to come Down Under.

Kia Australia lobbied hard for its introduction here and had to wait until after its mid-lifecycle update to secure the model, which is why it was only on the market for 12 months or so before being replaced by the second-generation model on sale today.

Hybrid and EV versions comprise the local Niro line-up – the PHEV was axed to due to slow sales – which starts from $44,930 plus on-road costs for the base S Hybrid and extends to $66,590 plus ORCs for its electric counterpart.

The all-new EV3, meantime, is expected to start just above $50,000 when it arrives next year, likely handing it a $13,000-plus price advantage over the Niro – along with its dedicated new e-GMP platform, given the Niro rides on the same K3-derived platform as the latest Hyundai Kona.

The Niro has never been a particularly big-seller in Australia compared to the similarly-sized Kia Seltos (with just 578 deliveries this year versus 3135), but it continues to attract a consistent number of buyers and remains one of only a handful of Kia hybrids.

carsales understands hybrid variants account for the majority of Niro sales in Australia due to their practicality and affordability compared to the electric versions. Its $65K-plus entry price has been a major criticism of the MkII Kia Niro EV since its local release in 2022.

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