Kia EV3 crucial to Tasman’s long-term future

As if the 2025 Kia EV3 wasn’t already an important-enough model for Kia Australia, the success of compact electric SUV will directly impact the long-term future of the upcoming Tasman ute.

With the EV3 tipped to become Kia’s second-best-selling battery-electric offering behind the bigger EV5, the two models will be the 2025 Kia Tasman’s primary line of defence against the increasingly stringent New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).

Speaking to carsales at the national media launch of the EV3 last week, Kia Australia product planning general manager Roland Rivero said the Tasman would initially be sheltered from major penalties by its mass, though it won’t be safe for long, and that’s where the EV3 and EV5 come into play.

“The credits are substantial for every EV product,” he said.

“Diesels are okay by virtue of their mass … mass is your friend.

“Under NVES, the LCV (light commercial vehicle) category, together with ladder-frame SUVs, the target settings are little bit kinder as well.

“So Tasman’s alright in the interim phase, but as the years progress and the targets get harder and harder and harder and tougher and tougher, then as a result we’re going to need a little bit more effort from our EVs and maybe look at other powertrain options and adjustments on the Tasman.”

Kia has forecast selling 4000-5000 EV3s per annum and 5000-6000 EV5s at full capacity, though the former will be hamstrung by supply bottlenecks stemming from higher-priority markets (Korea and Europe).

NVES will be a step in the right direction for levelling the playing field to a certain degree, but so will bulk sales and/or sheer demand, especially if NVES is restructured to measure emissions based on the number of vehicles sold as opposed to imported.

As reported last month, the government has proposed an overhaul of the standard to prevent OEMs importing excessive numbers of low- and zero-emission vehicles and dumping them on dealers to meet CO2 limits, thereby avoiding hefty penalties applied under the standard.

Kia’s local marketing boss Dean Norbiato said the EV3 and EV5 would act as a “tag team” and account for the vast majority of the brand’s local EV sales – predicted to total 10,000-11,000 units between them per annum.

“The plan for the dual attack is really, they’re the heavy lifters for NVES, to grab our credits,” Rivero added, before citing the possibility of screwing more EV5s out of China if needed, but not more EV3s.

“There might actually be some challenges with EV3 if it’s an absolute success in Europe … Europe will source it out of the Korean factory, as do we.”

If Kia Australia loses supply of the EV3 or the model fails to fire on the sales chart, especially if NVES is restructured, it could make life very difficult for the brand as well as prospective Tasman buyers which could see the all-new workhorse either priced out of consideration or squeezed out of the market entirely.

“EV3’s very important for us and we need to sell a nice number,” Rivero stated.