It’s no secret that Kia’s local distributors Dinamikjaya Motors, a subsidiary of the Bermaz Auto, are bringing in the Kia EV6. With nearly 20 bookings already collected, it might arrive sooner than expected.
During an interview with BFM’s Morning Run, Bermaz Auto CEO Datuk Francis Lee revealed that there have already been many bookings for the South Korean automaker’s flagship electric vehicle, indicating that customer interest is high. That’s saying something for a car they have yet to even actually tease, officially.
It was speculated in 2021 from shareholder documentation that the EV6 would arrive in showrooms the second half of 2022, and that’s still likely indeed the case. However, Dinamikjaya could be incentivised to expedite its Malaysian debut, particularly to keep pace with the IONIQ 5, its sister model from Hyundai, which is being sold through Sime Darby and launched earlier this year.
Datuk Francis said that while a unit of the Mazda MX-30, which will be the first EV to be sold by Bermaz, had arrived last December and has been undergoing local testing since, a Kia EV6 for similar purposes has not yet been forthcoming from South Korea despite there being 15 to 20 customers in Malaysia already putting their money down.
The EV6 was recently crowned the European Car of the Year for 2022 as well while the Hyundai followed closely in at 3rd place. Besides the accolades, though, both cars have received a bevy of critical praise and should prove to be one of the most popular EVs going forward, and the same goes for Kia’s forthcoming models.
In terms of specifications, the EV6 should follow the IONIQ 5 quite closely since they are very similar cars under the skin. Both share identical battery technology and capacities, electric motors and configuration, as well as a common dedicated electric vehicle platform: E-GMP.
However, the EV6 is positioned as the sportier, more dynamic sibling of the two with the highest-spec GT boasting performance to rival a Porsche Taycan – up to 580PS and 740Nm from its dual electric motors for a 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.5 seconds.
So far, the only slightly underwhelming aspect of the EV6 as well as the IONIQ 5 is its seemingly low maximum battery capacity that caps out at 77.4kWh while many other players in the EV space are offering north of 100kW for top end variants.