Tarragona, Spain – Kia chose a big day – Kia EV Day 2025 - to unveil its smallest EV to date. Kia EV Day featured several premieres and presentations, but the cutest of them all was without a doubt the EV2 Concept, an urban subcompact tailor-made for the European and Asian markets but unfortunately not likely to make it as far as North America.
Design of the Kia EV2 Concept
If you squint a little you can see in the EV2 a lego version of the EV9, or a mistakenly-put-in-the-dryer version of the upcoming new EV5, or a smaller version of the EV3. Actually you don’t even need to squint, the family resemblance is strong. The small SUV thus features vertical lights, Star Map lighting design and an upright stance and cabin.
There are rounded elements of course, such as the rounder wheel arches (though still squared off!) and smoother corners in back and up front.
This being a concept, the doors open up opposite each other – an element that may well not make the transition to the production version, but at the least it gives us now a great view into a welcoming interior that looks decently roomy for a subcompact like this.
The interior
Clearly, a model like this is going to aim its appeal at younger consumers, so that welcoming interior features vibrant innovative lighting elements and a poppy interface on the multimedia display.
Another innovation is the ability to raise up the rear bench and then slide the front one back to make for a large open space when stopped. Yet another, triangular speakers built into the doors that can be removed for use somewhere else.
Technology in the Kia EV2
Beyond that, at this stage it’s not clear how many of the technological innovations Kia introduced first in its EV6 and EV9 models, and is now letting trickle down into the EV5 and EV3 SUVs, will make it into the EV2. We keep in mind the imperative to keep this pint-sized EV as affordable as possible, however, so there may be compromises made on that front.
Kia does say it intends to equip the EV2 with over-the-air updating and bi-directional charging capabilities, to name those, so we’ll see. These days, you can’t accuse Kia of lacking ambition, even in the smallest vehicle segment. The company has, after all, made clear its intention to provide “EVs for All”; an EV2 had to happen for that to have any meaning.
Powertrain of the Kia EV2 Concept
We also don’t know any details yet regarding the powertrain intended for use on the future production version of the EV2, nor anything to do with range. Still to come. We do know this is the newest use of Kia’s versatile E-GMP platform.
Kia says it's aiming to have a production model ready before 2025 is out, and then sell the EV2 in Europe starting at around 30,000 euros, with launch date in 2026 at some point. As mentioned, the chances of seeing this small dynamo in North America any time soon are slim to none. Never say never though.
