Kia e-Niro and Sorento PHEV here early next year

Kia Australia has announced plans for a green vehicle onslaught in the first half of 2021, when its first electrified models will arrive in the form of the Kia e-Niro and Kia Sorento plug-in hybrid.

The Korean car-maker confirmed the long-awaited launch of both electrified SUVs to journalists on Wednesday.

Following several delays due to global demand, Kia Australia COO Damien Meredith said the Kia e-Niro finally had a confirmed timeline for arrival into Aussie showrooms.

“That [Kia e-Niro] will be joining us in the next six months – the first half of 2021,” Meredith said.

At the same time, the local Kia chief also confirmed that the Sorento PHEV’s previously proposed arrival early in 2021 remained on track.

Kia is expected to take both plug-in hybrid and regular hybrid versions of the highly-acclaimed new large SUV within the next 12 months.

“That’s still the plan,” he said of an early 2021 arrival for the Sorento PHEV.

“The production plan has been a bit up in the air in regards to COVID-19. I’m not using that as an excuse, but it’s been far more difficult to project when product will arrive and in the volume that it should arrive. But we still have it in our plan for the early part of 2021.

“I think you’ll find it will be at the higher end of our product with Sorento,” Meredith added, referring to the plug-in hybrid variant’s pricing in the context of the broader Sorento model hierarchy.

As Kia seeks to pursue its electrification strategy in Australia, Meredith took exception to the industry’s broader view that EVs should not be subject to a road-user tax designed to compensate for reduced income from Australia’s fuel excise scheme.

Proposed separately in NSW, South Australia and Victoria, the road user tax for EVs is set to be introduced because those vehicles contribute reduced or no revenue via fuel excise, a national tax forecast to generate about $50 billion over the next four years.

In Victoria the road tax is estimated to add “on average” between $260 and $300 to the cost of a plug-in electric vehicle.

Meredith reckons the tax, if applied fairly, is fair play.

“I have a problem if someone’s driving around in an EV, and can afford to spend $150,000, but they’re not paying anything in regards to road tax,” he said.

“I think we have to have a national view – you can’t have state governments going off on their own with this – so that we can settle it and maybe have a strategy that’s going to take us over the next 10, 20 or 30 years.

“I do have a problem with people buying EVs and not paying their fair share of what needs to be done on the roads.”

The EV tax has been met with widespread opposition, including from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) – the peak body representing the car-makers – which claimed the Victorian government was “trying to ‘kill’ EV use”.

Meredith politely disagreed.

“I know people are arguing the benefits of what EVs can do for the environment, but for me it doesn’t cut it. They have to pay their fair share on our roads as well,” he rebutted.

“The federal government will have to do something because the fuel excise is going to fall off a cliff. We’re talking five, 10 or 20 years away, but we need to do something about it now.”