Kia Unveils the Concept EV5, Previewing an Electric SUV for China

• The concept looks very similar to the recently launched EV9.

• Its design aims to blend indoors and outdoors with elements such as a glass roof and swivelling seats.

• A production version will be available in China first before expanding to other markets.

Only a week after having launched the EV9, Kia now reveals the Concept EV5, a preview of a smaller electric SUV that will be offered in China first.

If you have seen the EV9, the EV5 will look familiar to you since both models share the same styling treatment adapted to their different sizes.

Thus, the Concept EV5 shows the same blocky and futuristic appearance as the larger EV, differing mainly via its headlamps and taillamps.

Indeed, while the Concept EV5 uses a front lightbar to connect the slim vertical lighting units on each side just like the EV9 does, the actual design of the headlamps is fairly different, with a triangular area coming down to the middle of the front fascia.

This gives the EV5 a more distinctive presence at the front since the EV9 is relatively conservative in that area.

Interestingly, this is reversed at the rear since the Concept EV5 adopts a more conventional lightbar composed of a thin line of red LEDs that makes two right angles on each side to form a sort of “J” pattern. As a comparison, the EV9 features decidedly more futuristic taillamps.

Inside, the Concept EV5 shows a minimalist dashboard composed of what seems like a single large screen that spans the area in front of the driver right up to the far end of the center console.

Kia says it wants the interior of the Concept EV5 to blend indoors and outdoors, which is why it gave it large windows, a glass roof that doubles as solar panels, and swivelling captain’s chairs in the front and second rows.

These seats take advantage of the clamshell doors to allow two people to sit side by side facing nature when the vehicle is stopped, almost as if sitting in the living room of a cabin.

In addition, a table can be installed in the rear hatch and it looks like the third-row bench seat can fold backward to create an additional way to enjoy the outdoors while remaining seated in the vehicle.

These features as well as the small octagonal steering wheel are unlikely to make it to production, but since the Concept looks to be in the later stages of development, few changes to the exterior design might take place before the production version is released.

This is even more likely since Kia has been known to release regular models that look very similar to the concept that previewed them, as was the case for the EV9.

Kia hasn’t released any technical details about the upcoming EV5 yet, but the company’s naming structure suggests it should be smaller than the existing EV6. This is difficult to tell only by the pictures of the concept, however.

China will be the launch market for this model when it arrives in its final form later this year, but the automaker says the EV5 will expand to other global markets later on.