“Things have changed”: Why Aussie buyers are set to benefit from Kia Australia’s new bit-of-everything strategy as 2026 EV launches revealed
Australia’s tightening New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) is paving the way for a weird and wonderful collection of EVs to launch in our market, with brands like Kia green-lighting vehicles they might otherwise never have introduced in order to stay ahead of potential fines.
One such vehicle is the newly launched Kia EV4 Sedan, which Kia concedes would have been unlikely to reach Australia were it not for the NVES. The hatch would have been a more likely candidate, but its European production (the sedan is built in Korea) means it is struggling to add up as a business case.
Kia hopes to sell around 840 sedans per annum. For reference, it sold 281 examples of the EV5 in January alone. Asked whether it would have introduced a vehicle it expects to be a relatively small seller prior to Australia’s emissions laws changing, Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith replied: “Things have changed.”
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“I think what we have to do is now think [840] multiplied by ‘x’ thousand to give you NVES credits,” Mr Meredith said.
It should come as little surprise, then, that Kia’s launch calendar for 2026 is packed with EV offerings.
That begins with a facelift for the EV6 and EV6 GT, expected in Q1, introducing a bigger battery, longer driving range and access to the Kia Connect app.
Arriving at around the same time will be the EV9 GT (pictured top), which gives Kia’s biggest electric vehicle a much sportier edge.
It produces a mammoth 375kW and borrows its simulated gear-shift technology from the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.
Next to touch down will be the striking PV5 electric mid-size van, the first model based on Kia’s next-generation all-electric E-GMP.S PBV architecture.
It will offer three battery options and a maximum promised driving range of more than 400km. A seven-seat people-mover version of the PV5 will also arrive in Australia, though not until the end of the year.
The passenger model will be offered with either a 51.5kWh or 71.2kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery, with the larger pack delivering up to 412km of range on the WLTP test cycle.
A refreshed EV5 that is yet to break cover is also due to arrive before the end of the year.
Together, the new arrivals will give Kia one of the most comprehensive EV line-ups in Australia, spanning the EV3, EV4 Sedan, EV5, EV6 and EV6 GT, EV9 and EV9 GT, as well as PV5 commercial and passenger variants.
Kia is pushing on with its EV expansion despite falling short of its 2025 sales objectives.
At the Kia EV3 launch in April 2025, Kia stated its EV sales target for 2025 was 11,000, with the EV5 accounting for 6000 sales, the EV3 4000 and the remainder accounted for by the EV6 and EV9.
The actual Kia EV sales total came in at 8001, still good enough for third overall in a slowly climbing segment , but well shy of estimates. There were 4787 EV5s sold and 2597 EV3s.
Meredith had a simple explanation for the shortfall.
“We didn’t sell enough EV3s and we didn’t sell enough EV5s.
“I think that was just related to the market. The market grew, the EV market grew … We were a significant part of that growth.
“But there’s still things that we need to do. And I would have loved to have been selling 11,000 EVs in 2025. We didn’t achieve that.
“But from a market share point of view, we did pretty well.”
Asked what his EV sales target was for 2026, Meredith declined to answer.
“I can’t give you an exact number because it hasn’t been finalised as yet. We’d probably need a bit more certainty in the world to give you that [this early in the year].”
