Kia is about to revive its cute Ray in the form of an electric city car. If it is intended for the Korean market, it could one day make its arrival in Europe and be a great success.
If there is one manufacturer that has been busy for some time, it’s Kia. The firm, which plans to become a 100% electric brand over the next few years, in accordance with the will of the European Union, a series of novelties.
A lovely city dweller
We are of course thinking of the EV6, which we tested a few months earlier, as well as its recent EV9, a large electric SUV that will hunt Volvo EX90s and other VinFast VF9s, among others, on land. Finally, we can also mention the future EV5, first presented in the form of a concept, but which will see the light of day in the coming years.
But the Korean firm does not want to stop there. The site’s journalists Ked Global announce to us that the latter plans to revive one of its star models in Korea. This is the Rayan adorable little city car currently sold with a combustion engine.
This new variant should be a continuation of the previous city car, launched in 2011 and only sold on the South Korean market. For the time being, no official photo has yet been published by the brand, which does not provide information on this next generation. However, it should remain close to the old one, which displays angular lines reminiscent of Japanese Kei Cars.
As the site says Electrekthe electric Kia Ray EV was discontinued in 2018, due to the lack of charging stations in South Korea as well as its insufficient autonomy. Things have since changed a lot, and all the lights are now green for the return of the small car, which should come later in a van version for professionals.
When in Europe?
For the time being, we do not yet know all the technical characteristics of this new generation, which should officially be unveiled next month. It could in particular be present at the Tokyo Mobiliy Show in October, but this has yet to be confirmed. There is no doubt that the technical sheet should evolve compared to the old version, whose autonomy was displayed at 210 kilometers.
The latter should indeed be doubled in order to exceed the 200 kilometer mark. The battery should have a capacity of 35.2 kWh while the motor could develop 63.3 kW, which is equivalent to around 86 horsepower. Enough to place the electric city car in front of the Dacia Spring and its 65 horsepower in its Extreme version.
At the moment, we do not know the information relating to the recharge. Anyway, the manufacturer says that the latter will only be sold on the Korean market. However, it is not excluded that he changes his mind and markets it a little later with us.
And for good reason, the market for small electric city cars is growing strongly, and there is no doubt that the latter is a great success. In its native market, it should in any case enter the top 10 best-selling models. A place that it could also reach in Europe, like its rival from Dacia.
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