The showroom-bound models are still months away, but a trial example of Kia’s next electric has landed for testing.

BACKGROUND to a pre-release example of the next Kia electric car cited for sale here is being closely-guarded.

Expectation is high production versions of the EV5 Kia New Zealand intends to have on sale from June or thereabouts will come from China, a first for the South Korea-domiciled make.

The Auckland-based national distributor shared yesterday that it has an example of the medium sports utility here now for evaluation.

When asked for detail about the sourcing of what will likely stand as a smaller, cheaper choice to the EV6 and EV9, it became surprisingly coy.

Inquiry is relevant, as the EV5 differs in drivetrain performance and battery type, the South Korea models said to offer lower range and performance.

Kia New Zealand describes its first car, which it says is going to be used for testing, as being a “hand-built pre-production car” that has been constructed “to as closely represent the final production version as possible.”

However when it comes to sourcing, “we are not in a position to comment on production location.”

It would seem a safe bet the recipe Kia NZ describes is one very much likely to have been concocted at the vast Namyang technical centre near Seoul, developed by Hyundai and shared by the sibling brand.

A local release yesterday said more than 20 Research and Development engineers from seven different departments from Kia Head Office are participating in extensive “local engineering testing, demonstrating the marque’s commitment to ensuring local product functionality”.

It did not make clear if ‘local’ means New Zealand specifically, or the region. Kia often undertakes pre-release testing in Australia, but rarely bothers with NZ.

A sports utility with similar proportions to the Kia Sportage that avails in petrol and hybrid formats, styled to look like a smaller version of the blocky EV9 seven-seater, EV5 is expected to become a strong seller for Kia.

In December, MotoringNZ.com reported dealers have been advised the EV5 will be the first Korean car sold here to source from China, to enable a cost advantage and also bring the car to market up to a year sooner than the parent can manage from its home factory.

Australia is following the same strategy, and Kia there has had no compunction about discussing this. Our neighbour’s product choices and suspension tunings are often taken up by Kia NZ, for convenience.

EV5 is already on sale in China, selling for less than half as much as the best-selling Tesla Model Y, which starts at $67,500 here.

Presently the cheapest electric from a Chinese domestic brand is the GWM Ora, at $42,990 in standard range and $47,990 in long range, and the cheapest Kia electric is the Niro Plus, at $64,990.

The least expensive car on the E-GMP platform EV5 builds on is the EV6, at $76,990. The considerably more expensive new EV9 is also an E-GMP car.

With EV-5, though, it’s a different technology mix. Whereas those larger models are available in rear-wheel-drive or rear-biased all-wheel-drive, EV5 is only built as a front- or front-biased all-wheel-drive model.

More tellingly, it bases on a 400-volt electric architecture rather than the 800-volt platform in the South Korea-supplied EV6 and EV9, meaning its charging speeds will be slower but still capable of accepting up to 120kW (compared to 250kW in the more expensive vehicles).

When revealing EV5 late last year, Kia also made clear that all China-built versions are powered by a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery developed by electric-vehicle specialist BYD. South Korea-built cars use nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries.

There are differences in range and performance, with the China cars showing advantage.

There it offers in standard, long-range and an all-wheel drive long-range variant.

The entry car has a 64kWh battery pack which sends energy to a 160kW electric motor and is expected to reach up to 530km on a single charge. The ‘long-range’ has the same electric motor, but married to a 88kWh battery. Up to 720km per charge is claimed.

The long-range all-wheel drive has the big battery, feeding a 160kW motor up front and a additional 70kW motor at the rear; for combined output of 230kW. Range reduces to 650km.

All can fast charging from 30 to 80 percent in just under half an hour.

The Korean market has a standard variant with a 58kWh battery and a long-range with an 81kWh unit.

Kia NZ says an EV5 section of its website goes live next week, for potential customers to register their interest.

It says further information relating to pricing, specification and range will be released over coming months, ahead of an anticipated launch early in the second half of the year.

“These same characteristics and features will be found in the EV5, albeit in a slightly smaller package, so we expect it to have particular appeal for families who want an innovative, fast charging and attractive fully electric vehicle.”

Aimed at a smaller SUV segment than EV9, the new EV5 will offer two rows of seats for five people, whereas the EV9 will continue as one of the few EV’s available with seating for seven.