New Kia EV1 electric city car on the way to rival the Renault Twingo

Development of the Kia EV1, the company’s answer to the Renault Twingo and forthcoming Volkswagen ID. Lupo, is now under way, the Korean brand has all-but confirmed. This won’t just give the firm a small electric model to join the petrol-powered Picanto, but also offer Kia buyers an EV that costs less than the new EV2.

Kia’s new head of advanced design, Jochen Paesen, confirmed how significant the city-car segment is to the company, and that any electric entrant to the class will be a car that firmly aligns with the brand’s values.

Paesen told Auto Express: “We are very conscious that the small-car market is really important, so I think we need to keep working on it. We’ll do it in the Kia way… I think we want to make sure that we will be noticed. There’s a lot happening in that space.”

This electric city car, previewed in our exclusive images, will be designed to appeal to global markets, but it’s in Europe that the competition is at its hottest. High-end electric cars are fairly easy to engineer and build at a profit, but achieving this in a smaller model, with the packaging and cost constraints, is far harder. It’s a challenge that firms such as Volkswagen and Renault are quickly finding solutions for.

To compete, Kia will need to work alongside sister brand Hyundai, which we already know is gearing up its European production plants for a new electric model of its own.

We expect the EV1 to be one of the models that pushes its maker’s design into a new phase. The minimalist, ultra-contemporary language that Kia is known for has largely spread across different market segments, but Paesen acknowledged that the firm is now transitioning towards to a new design generation.

“We’ve built a good foundation, I think now we’ve got a good presence, but how do we become more aspirational, and how do we get people to walk in the showroom and say, ‘I want that Kia’?. That’s part of our strategic thinking,” he said. “And we’re doing that from a design point of view, so that we have a stronger leverage to keep that momentum. EVs obviously lead our Kia values most.”

There are then the physical aspects of designing an A-class EV, and the size and cost restrictions, plus the fact that the larger EV2 has obvious crossover or SUV influences.

As our exclusive images show, we think Kia will shape the EV1 as a more urban-focused car, rather than include obvious SUV references. This could manifest itself in the silhouette, which has more of a monobox shape closer to that of the short-nosed EV4’s. Kia’s use of black plastic on the bumpers and sills is intended to give the electric city car a sense of urban toughness rather than suggest any off-road ruggedness.

Elements such as non-radial wheel designs and vertically orientated LED lighting will also be integrated, but  potentially including more curves and fewer creases, as previewed in the firm’s Meta Turismo concept.

Paesen also gave us an insight into Kia’s future interior designs, telling us: “We are looking at what’s working well, what’s getting a good response, what’s getting a bad response. Where can we improve, where are the things we can improve on?

“As our digital system gets stronger and better, we still have work to do there. How do we slide these learnings into one another and make sure the system is future-proof, but the system carries you along and doesn’t mean you need to learn new things.”

In contrast to its exterior design, Kia’s interior design has been subject to some criticism for being too similar across its various models. All of its electric vehicles incorporate the same triple-screen layout, but as the manufacturer moves forward, this set-up could change.

Kia isn’t alone in wanting to bring an electric city car to market, but given the razor-thin margins in this segment, there are only a few rivals.

Renault’s new Twingo comes with more than a hint of nostalgia and cool that European buyers have already responded to favourably in the marque’s larger Renault 5. This model has also been developed in record time, with the French company outsourcing to Chinese-based technical partners much of the time-intensive development work that is required to bring any new model into mass production.

The upcoming Volkswagen ID.Lupo could also be a big player in this market, because it’s not just a stripped-out version of the larger ID. Polo. It also introduces a new hardware and software platform from VW’s joint venture with US EV maker Rivian.

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