The electric vehicle market in India is growing faster than many would have expected a few years back. Quite a few established automakers have already introduced several new EVs and the competition is expected to get tougher in the upcoming months and years. Looking to capitalise in this market segment South Korean auto giant Hyundai and its sister brand Kia will be introducing a series of EVs in India. While Hyundai was the first automaker to introduce electric cars in India with the Kona EV, the company so far has failed to keep up with competitors in the segment. However, a recent report in Autocar India suggests that Hyundai is all set to revamp its EV market presence in India.
Both Hyundai and Kia will be launching three new EVs each by 2024. The brands will share R&D and platforms to cut the cost of manufacture and launch the EVs at competitive prices. This strategy of sharing technology has previously been used by the brands in ICE models: Venue-Sonnet and Creta-Seltos.
The list of EVs to be introduced under this agreement between the companies will include Hyundai Kona Facelift (2022), Kia EV6 (2022), Kia e-Niro (2023), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (2023) and Mass Market EVs by Kia and Hyundai that could come by 2024.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6
The first set of vehicles to be introduced under this partnership will be the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. Both the cars will share the same E-GMP platform that has been designed specifically for EVs. Hyundai recently unveiled the Ioniq 5 in the global market and it's expected to come to India by 2023 as Completely Built Units. The Kia EV6 will make its debut in 2022. The new platform used on the vehicle pushes the wheels to the corner making more space in the cabin. Despite using the same platform, the Ionic has a longer wheelbase of 3,000 m as compared to EV6's 2900mm.
The entry-level variant of both the EVs will come equipped with two-wheel drive and feature a 58kWh battery pack capable of delivering 170hp pf power coupled with the 350Nm of peak torque. There’s also an all-wheel-drive version of the EVs that have a bigger battery pack and get more power. While the performance output on Ioniq 5 is 301 hp, it goes further up to 321 hp in the case of EV6
Kia EV6 gets an additional GT version that comes with high-performance abilities and clock up to 585 hp of power
Hyundai Kona EV and Kia e-Niro
The facelift version of Hyundai Kona could make its way to the Indian market by next year whereas Kia may launch e-Niro sometime in 2023. Both the cars will be sharing components and will be brought to India as Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units. The EVs will be introduced with two battery options. While the smaller 39.2 kWh battery pack comes with the ability to produce a maximum output of 136 PS, the larger 64 kWh can deliver 204 Ps of power. The claimed range on Hyundai Kona EV varies between 305km to 484 km depending upon the use whereas the e-Niro can deliver anywhere between 289 and 455 km on a single full charge.
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The companies are also planning to introduce a low cost made in India EV to offer budget options in the segment. The car could come in the sub-Rs 15 lakh segment offering competition to the likes of Tata Nexon EV in the Indian market, the report adds.
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