Kia goes elemental with new EV variant names

Kia has filed four new EV6 trademark applications with IP Australia, revealing a series of fresh variant names for the ground-breaking new electric crossover.

However, we shouldn’t expect to see any more Kia EV6 variants than the three already announced for our market.

Confirmed to be nothing more than nameplate security by Kia Australia product planning general manager Roland Rivero, the new trademarks are for the EV6 Air, EV6 Light, EV6 Earth and EV6 Water.

According to Rivero, the elemental nameplates will become the standard trim levels for all sub-GT Line EVs based on Kia’s e-GMP dedicated EV platform, with ‘Air’ the entry variant as reflected in the inbound Kia EV6 line-up.

In Australia, the EV6 range will open the with Air and be crested by the GT Line, at least until the fire-breathing GT flagship makes its way into the hands of local customers the fourth quarter of the year.

In markets where a full portfolio is made available, the Air variants will be positioned above the Light trim level but below the Earth and Water grades, while the familiar GT Line and top-shelf GT occupy the top two rungs of the hierarchy.

The difference here is our accelerating but still lacklustre appetite for electric vehicles, meaning there just isn’t the sales volume for Kia’s local division to justify offering six different EV6 variants.

Of course that may change in the future, and if it does Kia Australia will be ready with the relevant approvals and variant names. Our money is on the EV6 Light materialising at some stage to combat the more affordable IONIQ 5 being promised by Hyundai.

We don’t expect a full elemental range of Kia EV6s will be available Down Under until electric vehicles make up a drastically bigger portion of new-car sales and Kia launches a more affordable e-GMP-based model.

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