Kia electric cars- E-Niro and E-Soul, delayed to 2021

A few months back, the Korean manufacturer Kia announced the arrival of its two upcoming electric vehicles- Kia E-Niro and Kia E-Soul in Australia. But a recent report states the delay of cars by least one year.

Initially, the firm decided to launch its first electric car E-Niro at the time 2020 Australian Tennis Open.

Kia E-Niro lies in the small SUV segment and can run 452 km in a single charge, and after its launch, the company had planned to launch Kia E-Soul city hatchback. Both models have right-hand driving. And, ahead of the grand launches, the automaker has started installing charging stations across its network of local dealers. 

An overwhelming response for the upcoming E-Niro has seen in the market, as the first 12 months’ allocation of cars is sold out in the first four weeks of booking in the UK alone.

But now the automaker asserts that E-Niro will be the primary electric car in local available at local Kia dealers and E-Soul will depend on supply resources.

The company’s official Kevin Hepworth states, “We’ve gone as far as we are installing charge points into dealerships, and all dealerships are having technicians trained in servicing electric vehicles. We want it to happen, we’re pushing very hard to make it go ahead (however) neither are confirmed.”

Mr. Hepworth further explained that Hyundai and Kia electric cars are part of the same company, but they operate as competitors. They both have different plans, and none of their cars come off the same line. The main reason for the delay is the supply of batteries that cannot keep up with demand in Europe. 

He further added, “If they gave us the go-ahead we would have them on the ground here as quickly as physically possible, but that’s unlikely to happen unfortunately in the next 12 months” even though, he said, Kia will have the “infrastructure in place to sell them... within a couple of months”.

Also read: Kia may add all-new ‘XRio’ to crossover lineup