Wait occasions on the Kia EV6 electrical crossover are being whittled away on the again of vastly improved manufacturing facility provide to Australia, giving it a greater shot at preventing market-leader Tesla.
Kia Australia tells us that consumers can count on to get their arms on an EV6 of any variant solely 2-3 months after inserting an order – or much more rapidly if their vendor has inventory able to go.
This can be a huge change in fast time. At one level earlier this yr the car was topic to attend occasions generally round 12 months, and in some circumstances nearer to 2 years, with an order financial institution someplace close to 1500 items.
Fortunately for these folks, Kia Australia expects to clear this order backlog inside a number of months, that means it could ramp up advertising and promotion and create incremental demand. The Korean manufacturing facility stands prepared to satisfy demand having pivoted to Australia, the corporate provides.
For the reason that begin of 2022 Kia has offered 1266 items of the EV6, however may have greater than doubled this based mostly on enquiry ranges.
It’s an identical story for sibling model Hyundai with its associated Ioniq 5, each autos being launched in tranches of some hundred vehicles once they hit the market.
Over the primary half of 2023 the EV6 was the eighth top-selling EV in Australia, however the Tesla Mannequin Y outsold it 28:1 (14,002 gross sales versus 535 gross sales, January to June).
Kia insists the diminished wait occasions on EV6 apply to all variants: the bottom Air (20 per cent of gross sales on the present run price, however rising with elevated fleet uptake), the mid-range GT-Line (60 per cent of gross sales), and the supercar-fast EV6 GT (20 per cent).
The 2023 Kia EV6 vary opens at $72,590 earlier than on-road prices for the Air, climbing to $79,950 for the single-motor GT-Line, $87,590 for the dual-motor AWD GT-Line, and $95,590 for the GT which might do the 0-100km/h sprint in solely 3.5 seconds.
This implies no EV6 is eligible for numerous state rebates, given it exceeds the fee threshold, however a lot of the vary is eligible for federal fringe-benefits tax exemptions for fleet consumers or these on novated lease plans.
For a bit of context, the bottom EV6 Air ($72,590) with a 528km WLTP driving vary per cost, sits between the Tesla Mannequin Y base ($65,400) and Mannequin Y Lengthy Vary ($78,400). All these costs are earlier than on-road prices.
MORE: 2023 Kia EV6 GT reviewMORE: 2023 Kia EV6 Air reviewMORE: 2022 Kia EV6 GT-Line assessment MORE: 2022 Kia EV6 v Polestar 2 v Tesla Mannequin 3 comparability
