Kia Unveils Global Modular EV Lineup

LAS VEGAS – Kia is making a big splash among automakers at CES 2024, unveiling a strategy designed to make waves in electrified-vehicle segments worldwide in both commercial fleets and personal driveways.

The South Korean automaker unveils a new EV platform that is intended to underpin a family of hyper-modular and flexible EVs that look like they could eventually challenge Ford’s family of Transit vans on the commercial side and potentially transform how consumers on multiple continents view EV mobility.

The Kia Platform Beyond Vehicles (PBV) concept shown this week is actually five vehicles – three versions of the PV5 and the PV7 concept , both of which require a driver aboard – and a Concept PV1 that would be almost fully autonomous. The family of concepts also includes a pickup spinoff.

Design is the focus of this concept strategy. The PBV vehicles have a Russian doll or Lego quality, looking the same in different sizes, with the potential to spawn several upper bodies on the platform for different customers. The platform package has a common central software operating system, a common platform and architecture stretching to different lengths and battery ranges.

Kia says it is developing a robust management system/dashboard for fleet managers.

Kia envisions the flexibly designed vehicles could also be attractive to families with active lifestyles. Kia CEO Ho-Sung Song specifically references putting one of the vehicles in “dog mode,” which is designed to maintain a safe atmosphere for a pet to remain in the vehicle while its owners are shopping or dining.

Kia describes the user case this way: “The design strategy is to enable a single vehicle chassis to be used to fulfill multiple mobility needs. Behind a fixed cab, or ‘driver zone,’ a variety of interchangeable upper bodies, or ‘life modules,’ can be connected to the base vehicle via a hybrid electromagnetic and mechanical coupling technology, turning the PBV into a taxi during the day, to a delivery van at night and a personal recreational vehicle on weekends.”

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The PV5, Kia says, will be available in at least four body styles: Basic, Van, High-Roof and Chassis Cab. There could, and most likely will be, a robo-taxi version being developed with Aptiv. Autonomous versions of the cars will be dependent on the customers and local governing entities setting limits and standards for AVs, Kia officials say.

The PV7 is the largest version and will offer the most premium amenities and features.

All of the PBVs have a common ceiling rail system designed to hold flexible and customizable pieces for both fleet and personal mobility customers. Even the side and back windows are common from vehicle to vehicle to keep simplicity of production high and costs as low as possible. The PV5 will start at about $35,000.

The PBVs initially will be manufactured in South Korea at Autoland Hwaseong. The factory is expected to build up to 150,000 vehicles per year after production launches in 2025.

Kia is part of the Hyundai Motor Group. The broader Hyundai Group includes shipping and cargo containers of various sizes, and those containers often have been repurposed as low-cost housing.

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Modular vehicle design has been tried with varying success. Ford’s Transit vans come in different sizes and with common rail and storage systems. General Motors tried to sell a combination/flexible pickup/SUV called the GMC Envoy XUV, but it was short-lived. Nissan tried a Pulsar NX Sportbak thirty years ago, which could transition somewhat clumsily from a small hatchback to an open-back “pickup” or CUV. It was not successful.

But the era of EV platforms, with flat floors and front ends free of internal-combustion engines, offer a new canvas for automakers to offer new designs and ideas. Karam Habib, Kia global design chief says: “We are designing mobility the same way we look at designing space. The PVBs allow for people to fully extend their lives and lifestyle into the vehicle.”

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