As promised, Kia is introducing the all-wheel-drive variant of its EV4 electric car for 2027, except for now this announcement concerns Europe only. It’s widely expected that the Canadian AWD EV4 is coming as well; we await details as far as when goes.
Manufactured at Kia’s Žilina plant in Slovakia, the EV4 all-wheel-drive model uses a dual-motor configuration, pairing a 125-kW front motor with a 70-kW rear motor. This setup delivers a combined output of 265 hp (195 kW) and 284 lb-ft of torque. The result is a notable performance bump, slashing the 0–100 km/h sprint to 6.5 seconds—about a second faster than the standard FWD model.
Beyond straight-line speed, the rear motor acts as a variable traction aid, improving stability in poor weather and, for the first time, enabling a 1.5-ton towing capacity.
Exclusively paired with the larger 81.4-kWh battery, the AWD variant achieves a WLTP-rated range of up to 560 km in the Earth trim level. That’s the equivalent of somewhere between 475 and 495 km for North America.
Kia is also addressing one of the most common EV pain points: slow AC charging. The 2027 model introduces an optional 22 kW three-phase on-board charger. This upgrade is aimed at improving urban charging, slashing the time required to charge the 81.4-kWh battery from 10 to 100 percent at an AC station from over seven hours to roughly four hours.
While the new AWD options for the Earth and GT-Line trims are now available to order in Europe, the outlook for North America remains uncertain. Kia has indefinitely delayed the EV4 for the U.S. market due to shifting trade tariffs, and there is currently no concrete date given for Canadian availability.
