The 2025 Kia EV3 Has The Potential To Disrupt The Compact EV Crossover Market (2024)

Kia continues its unstoppable march in releasing sensational electric vehicles (EVs), and as it previewed a few months ago at the brand's EV Day, we finally have the 2025 Kia EV3 revealed in full today. The 2025 Kia EV3 will be the entry point into its lineup of dedicated EVs, and it will sit alongside the Niro EV, another electric crossover SUV that isn't riding on a dedicated EV platform.

A Smart Urban Crossover With Signature Kia Looks

Despite being the entry point into Kia's ever-growing EV range, the EV3 isn't short on charm and character. Design-wise, the 2025 Kia EV3 looks nearly unchanged from the EV3 concept from a few months back. The EV3 possesses an upright shape, with the front end possessing a pair of vertical and slim LED headlights. Meanwhile, Kia's "Star Map" LED daytime running lights give the EV3 a distinct light signature.

As we move towards the side, you'll see flushed door handles at the front, while the ones at the rear are integrated into the C-pillar for a cleaner look. The windshield is steeply raked, but as you move towards the rear, the rear windows have an upright shape, which is then contrasted by a sloped tailgate design. Finally, the rear fascia contains another interpretation of the Star Map LED lighting signature, this time, for the LED taillights. This is Kia's Opposites United design language at work, where contrasting elements can somehow complement each other, resulting in a small crossover SUV that's unique and unlike anything else on the road.

Minimalistic Interior With All The Bells And Whistles You Can Ask For

Like many Kia EVs these days, the 2025 EV3's interior has a lounge-like vibe, which is partly achieved through its long wheelbase enabled by the E-GMP platform that's shared with a plethora of Hyundai and Kia EVs. Kia's designers have also carved out an interior space with numerous interesting shapes and textures.

Despite being the entry point into Kia's diverse EV model range, the EV3's interior is still made out of sustainable yet premium materials. Some of its other ingenious interior highlights are a sliding center console table that's stored under the center armrest, LED ambient lighting, and the bidirectional charging capabilities enabled by its 400-volt architecture.

Add TopSpeed to your Google News feed.

Follow On

Google News

Also helping with the flagship EV experience Kia is touting are several new tech features. There's a pair of 12.3-inch screens housed in a glass piece that's powered by Hyundai Motor Group's latest Connected Car Navigation co*ckpit (ccNC) operating system. You operate the ccNC infotainment through the touch screen, the mix of capacitive touch and physical controls, or Kia's first implementation of a virtual voice assistant. Oh, and to make your charging less boring, there are now online multimedia services through the infotainment. Lastly, there's also a large 12-inch head-up display and a Harman Kardon sound system.

Kia noted that the single-motor model will make 201 horses. What they have revealed is that the Long Range models will have an 81.4 kWh lithium-ion NMC battery that's good enough for a 560-kilometer (348 miles) WLTP-tested range. Kia also mentioned 372 miles of range at the launch event, so we'll have to wait for the specifics to come through. With the smaller battery, the EV3 will be able to sprint to 62 mph from a standstill in 7.4 seconds, and with the Long Range heavier battery, 7.7 seconds.

As Kia's most affordable EV to date apart from the Niro EV, you might be curious and even interested if this car is heading to America. Well, Kia representatives mentioned that it will arrive here in the first quarter of 2025. For those living in South Korea, the EV3 will go on sale as early as July, while those living in Europe will get the EV3 by the fourth quarter of 2024. As for the rest of the Asia Pacific region, including Southeast Asia, the EV3 will be launched in their market by early 2025.