About 7000 Aussies already eyeing off 2023 Kia EV9

Residents of Sydney’s most affluent suburbs are among the throngs of Australians already gravitating towards Kia’s first seven-seat electric SUV, the 2023 Kia EV9, ahead of its Australian release in October.

Despite an expected starting price of close to $100,000, Kia Australia officials say they’ve received about 7000 expressions of interest for the Toyota LandCruiser-size Kia EV9 – many of them well outside traditional Kia heartland.

Although not all of those EOIs will translate to transactions, the significant pre-sales interest in the EV9 is set to create allocation headaches for Kia Australia, which has secured only about 100 examples a month of the ground-breaking EV.

“We have about 7000 expressions of interest in Australia for the EV9 and, given this is one of our halo models, we’re pretty happy with that level of interest,” said Dean Norbiato, Kia Australia’s general manager of marketing.

“We’re definitely seeing in terms of expressions of interest a new customer, based on postcodes and where the expressions of interest are coming from.

“There is a continuation of growth in suburbs where Kia is traditionally under-represented… like the lower North Shore, Upper North Shore and Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs – not exactly heartland territory for us until now.

“It’s going to be interesting when the rubber hits the road to see where we will be selling it.”

Strong interest in the Kia EV9 comes despite the fact it will push Kia’s price ceiling beyond that of the Kia EV6 GT performance flagship, which starts at $99,590 plus on-road costs.

In 2025, Kia is also set to unleash the high-performance EV9 GT, which as the Korean brand’s new flagship could cost close to $150,000 and is also expected to lure buyers from outside the Kia brand.

“What we’re finding with our EV product is that we have existing Kia customers, but we also have a lot of new customers,” Norbiato explained.

“I think with this car we’ll probably have the highest percentage of European car owners coming into it… I expect more than 80 per cent of customers coming into the EV9 emerging from other brands.”

Kia will reveal full pricing and specification details for the EV9 in the weeks before its October on-sale date.

The EV9 is initially set to be offered in three different grades locally, anchored by the rear-drive 76.1kWh Air variant, and moving up through more powerful 99kWh all-wheel drive Earth and GT-Line grades.

Speaking with carsales during our first local viewing of the EV9 this month, Kia Australia officials were confident that the standard level of powertrain, technology and safety specifications will warrant the EV9’s relatively high entry price and positioning.

“This is the biggest battery we’ve ever had – it’s close to a 100kWh battery and it’s just not cheap,” Rivero said.

“If you’re going to command that kind of price point, you better make sure there’s a fair amount of technology, features and specifications. We’ve left no stone unturned with the EV9. It’s loaded up.”

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