Kia’s flagship electric car in Australia won’t have the fancy swivel seats offered overseas.
Brand spokesperson confirmed EV9 will only be a seven-seater under the hood because the seat belt sensors available on the six-seat configuration do not meet the ANCAP criteria.
A Kia Australia spokesperson said: “Due to the swivel feature, the seat belt reminder system developed for the six-seat configuration uses infrared to detect occupants instead of a physical harness.
“While this reduces the risk of entanglement when the swivel chair is in operation, the physical wiring used in the seven-seat layout provides more consistent and reliable warnings to occupants. car.
“The seven-seat layout was identified as the safest, most ergonomic and most practical layout for the Australian market.”
The full EV9 lineup hasn’t been revealed for Australia yet, but Kia Australia executives have previously indicated we’ll get a rear-wheel-drive Air with a 77.1 kWh battery and two models (Earth). and GT-Line) with 99.8 kWh battery pack.
The claimed range for the base rear-wheel drive model is 418 km. The 99.8 kWh battery has a range of up to 541 km in the single-engine rear-wheel drive model, while the long-range AWD has a claimed range of 497 km in the WLTP test cycle.
It’s unclear whether both the Earth and GT-Line will have all-wheel drive or if Kia will offer three separate powertrains.
In the smaller EV6, the mid-range model gets rear-wheel drive in Australia; only the flagship GT-Line and the high-performance EV6 GT have all-wheel drive.
However, the EV9 is a much bigger car and will face everything from an internal combustion engine Mazda CX-90 for vehicles such as electricity pole star 3 And Volvo EX90 in Australia.
Kia has previously told the media that buyers of its SUV range, from the Seltos to the Sorento, tend to prefer all-wheel drive. That suggests the EV9 Earth is more likely to have all-wheel drive than not.
As for the price? Kia previously indicated a starting price of around $90,000 and a sticker at the top around $130,000. That would make it the most expensive Kia ever in Australia.
Supply will be limited. The brand is expecting 100 units per month for the first 12 months of sale, or 1200 units for the first year of sale.
Stay tuned for our review of the Kia EV9 on June 28.
THAN: Everything Kia EV9
