Production version looks a LOT like the initial study.

WHY bother with sneak-peek shots of styling detail when all they do is confirm that the impending production model has remained true to a concept wholly revealed last year?

That’s a question only Kia can answer, however that’s the path it has chosen to take in the ramp up to a full unveil of its next electric car.

Comparing a trio of detail images - profile shots of elements of the nose and tail, the later also shown in oblique angle - sent out yesterday in respect to the budget battery model to the images of the same-named design study the Hyundai Group make showed off last October suggests very little diversion from the tasty concept.

All will become absolutely clear when the global unveiling occurs on May 23 and even more so when the car comes into NZ sale, likely toward the end of this year.

What’s not at all apparent, yet, is whether a sister study, called the EV4 sedan, that Kia also gave a world-first glimpse of at last year’s ‘EV Day’ will also come in production and be considered for sale here.

With similar dimensions to Kia’s smallest petrol SUV, the Seltos, the EV3 is proposed as as car for budget buyers, and conceivably will offer as an alternate to the BYD Atto 3, MG4, Peugeot e-2008 and the Hyundai Kona electric.

Whether Kia can bring the car into the same $40,000-$50,000 pricing sphere as the Chinese competitor product is a bigger question.

However, Kia head office in Seoul is bent on making its electric vehicles accessible to more people so as to achieve a sales target of one million EVs by 2026.

EV3 is based on the same E-GMP platform that underpins the incoming EV5 (our first Kia out of China), the EV6 and EV9 already here, however like EV5 it will as a cost saving steer clear of the full 800 volt charging element for a 400v set-up.

What battery type it is set to avail with is also open to conjecture.

The EV5 in China and South Korea go different ways. EV5 for us has a lithium-phosphate-iron (LFP) battery, under a build agreement with its Chinese partner.

However, it could be that EV3 takes the more expensive nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery that provisions in Korea-made EV5s, which are only for domestic use, as it will be built in a home turf Kia factory.

The teaser images showcase the bold, geometric and robust aspects of the EV3’s exterior design while highlighting its dynamic styling.

These qualities are emphasised by the boxy rear as well as the EV3’s signature ‘Star Map’ lighting, which imbue the vehicle with a strong, futuristic identity, Kia proposes.