Kia to offer 16 electrified vehicles globally by 2025
New Delhi: South Korean automaker, Kia Motors which will enter the Indian market by 2019, today said it plans to bring 16 electrified vehicles globally by 2025, including a fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) in 2020. The company also said it plans to operate a large-scale test fleet for autonomous technology on public roads from 2019, paving the way for commercial production of the technology. “By 2025, we will offer a total of 16 advanced powertrain vehicles, with five new hybrids and plug-in hybrids, five new battery EVs, and an all-new mass market FCEV,” Kia Motors Vice Chairman and Head of Kia R&D Center, Woong-chul Yang said in a statement.
He further said, the FCEV is due for launch in 2020 and “will spearhead Kias efforts to realise a zero-emission future for mobility”.
The company is displaying its future mobility vision at the ongoing 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
On its global driverless vehicles programme, the company said, “Kia aims to commercialise Level 4 autonomous vehicles in smart cities from 2021 with a new Smart City pilot project.”
In Level 4 autonomous vehicles, there is very high level of automation enabling a car to operate without human input or control under select conditions of pre-defined areas or roads.
Kia Motors has already announced investment of around USD 1.1 billion to set up a manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh. The facility will have a capacity to produce up to 3 lakh new cars per annum.
When it commences production in the second half of 2019, Kia plans to produce a compact sedan and compact SUV especially for the Indian market.
Indian government is also focusing on electric mobility setting a target of 100 per cent for public transportation and 40 per cent for personal mobility by 2030.
Source: PTI
