Kia Australia is launching its first non-SUV electric vehicle (EV) but doesn’t expect large numbers for its rival BYD Seal and Tesla Model 3.
The 2026 Be EV4 is available now and is priced from $49,990 plus on-road costs. Although the Korean brand is comparable in size and price to popular rivals Tesla and BYD, which regularly sell 300 to 600 units per month, the Korean brand’s local division doesn’t even expect to make triple-digit amounts per month.
Roland Rivero, general manager of product planning, said at the media launch in Australia that the forecast monthly sales rate for the EV4 is just 70 units per month, with 40 percent (approximately 28 units) each coming from the base Air and top-spec GT-Line, and the remaining 20 percent (approximately 14 units) from the mid-spec Earth.
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In a follow-up interview with Daily SparkzMr Rivero said there would be no supply restrictions on the EV4 if it suddenly became a hit with Australian buyers.
“What needs to be taken into account is that the vehicle has been developed for numerous regions and since it was developed for right-hand drive vehicles in the UK, much of the cost is already shared with other larger regions,” Rivero said Daily Sparkz.
“So if you have to do a homologation for Australia, which actually just includes a few other standards like a passenger airbag switch and three top tether anchor points, there’s not much difference between the UK specification and the Australian specification.”
“It’s easier to justify incrementally 70 units a month… and it’s coming from Korea anyway, so on the same ships that ship all our other Kia products. Is there a way to increase it in the future? There’s no supply limit… so if Australians want more, we can get more,” Mr Rivero added.
Dean Norbiato, general manager of marketing, added that the credits the company receives through the federal government’s NVES emissions reduction program make it worth bringing to market.
“The NVES credits generated by an electric vehicle product far exceed those of a (lower volume) internal combustion engine model,” Mr. Norbiato said.
Kia’s local marketing boss used the recently introduced K4 Sportswagon as an example of the reduced-volume ICE alternative. Even if the station wagon K4 had more volume than the EV4, that’s not enough to justify its launch compared to a lower volume electric vehicle.
The Korean brand was the third largest importer of electric vehicles to Australia in 2025, securing the bronze medal with 8131 electric vehicles behind Tesla (28,856) and BYD (25,287). Kia’s electric vehicle sales also increased by 125.4 percent compared to the previous year and showed solid growth, especially among traditional brands.
At the top, so to speak, was the mid-size SUV EV5 (4787 units), which was the fourth best-selling electric vehicle overall in Australia after the Tesla Model Y (22,239), the BYD Sealion 7 (13,410) and the Tesla Model 3 (6617).
Next in the stable was the smaller EV3 (2597), then the EV6 (348), the EV9 (269) and finally the now-defunct Niro (130). Even if the Niro were gone, the EV4’s projected monthly sales rate would see it become the brand’s third best-selling EV next year (~840 units).
Kia will also add the PV5 Cargo all-electric commercial van to its Australian offering in mid-2026, further strengthening its electric vehicle portfolio. Passenger pickup versions and chassis cab pickup versions of the PV5 are also available overseas, but are not yet available for Australia.
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