"The launch of the EV9 represents an important step for Kia in a strategy that began in 2021, which involves the progressive electrification of our range with the arrival on the market of a total of 15 electric models by 2027. Kia is ready to transform itself into a supplier of mobility services that are increasingly flexible and adapted to the changing needs of consumers.
EV9 is today the ambassador of our brand in the world of electrified vehicles and allows us to look to the future with a cutting-edge technological level and a sophisticated and unmistakable design, based on the new philosophy 'OppositesUnited'".
This is what Giuseppe Bitti, Managing Director & COO of Kia Italia underlined when meeting journalists from the specialized press in Courmayuer where the Kia EV9 is exhibited together with the other 6 finalists of the international Car Of The Year 2024 award which will be awarded on February 26th during the Geneva motor show.
For Bitti, the Kia EV9 is a car "that breaks the mold and explores territories that our brand had not yet covered before: a 5 meter long car that can be configured with 6 and 7 seats, with a 99.8 kWh battery that guarantees autonomy of over 500 km and an 800V ultra-fast charging system, with ADAS level 3 autonomous driving.
Furthermore, Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) technology has already been implemented on the EV9, which allows the energy to be used to power other devices , and the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) system with the function of possible re-injection of unused electricity into the grid".
Speaking about upcoming product launches, Bitti noted that 2024 will be a year full of new features.
"Continuing in the footsteps of the global electrification strategy - he said - we will launch the new EV3, full electric crossover, in the last quarter of 2024, which will lead us to preside over the B segment with a fully electric car that is particularly interesting for the Italian and European markets. Maintaining the same technological approach as EV6 and EV9, EV3 will also be built on the E-GMP platform, specific for 100% electric vehicles, and will have a modern and futuristic design with the same design styles as EV6 and EV9."
Furthermore, in the first part of the year, Kia will present the restyling of the Sorento and Picanto.
"Both of these cars, true icons of the Kia range - explained Bitti - will be affected by a profound update of the design, which includes new colours, sustainable materials and technological equipment that is particularly rich in the respective segments to which they belong.
But the innovations will not end because we will have another important range renewal that will be seen towards mid-2024".
In taking stock of the past year, Bitti recalled that 2023 was "a positive year for our brand in terms of sales results. Kia achieved its best sales performance ever in Europe in 2023 with 572,297 units (+5.4% compared to 2022). And also at a global level, the best commercial results ever in relation to all company parameters were recorded in 2023: +6.4% compared to the previous year with 3,087,384 units sold; revenues on an annual basis they increased by 15.3% reaching 68.57 billion euros; operating profit rose to 7.98 billion euros, an increase of 60.5% compared to 2022, with an operating margin of 11%. .6%.
"We can say - Bitti underlined - that the end of 2023 closes the circle of an atypical period for the car market, which began with Covid-19, where a series of events such as the lockdown and the semiconductor crisis have led to overturning ordinary logic: we went from a push logic of overabundance of stocks in stock to a situation of shortage.
2023 began with a queue of customer order books still in high availability, which gradually reduced over the course of the year precisely because demand returned to lower levels, similar to the pre-Covid levels of 2019. We witnessed an increase in registrations but not supported by a similar trend regarding new contracts.
On the other hand, we have seen growth in fleet channels, because companies have dynamics in the management and use of their fleet that are somewhat independent of short-term economic conditions.
This growth - concluded Bitti - is to be considered consistent with the evolution of our range, which is increasingly oriented towards electric models and rich in technologies and contents".
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