2026 Kia EV3 First Look: Subcompact EV, Big Potential

MotorTrend

Kia's subcompact EV3 all-electric powered SUV is headed for U.S. shores. In a market relatively starved for affordable EVs

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Collectively, we can all agree the EV9 looks great.

00:15 But what if we took that great design and shrank it down?

00:18 Well, that's exactly what the new Kia EV3 subcompact does.

00:22 And folks, it works.

00:25 The EV3 is built on the Hyundai Kia e-GMP modular EV

00:29 architecture.

00:30 Kia says the EV3 has a battery capacity of 81.4 kilowatt hours

00:34 and up to about 300 miles of range,

00:37 according to the European WLTP standards.

00:41 Unfortunately, though, Kia didn't give us

00:43 any further stats than that.

00:44 So we'll have to wait a bit longer on things like horsepower

00:47 and charge time.

00:48 But as for size, think about it between a Toyota RAV4

00:52 and a Kia Niro.

00:54 From the outside, the EV3 has the familiar electric Kia

00:57 design language.

00:58 The squared-off wheel arches add to the overall sense

01:01 of geometry.

01:03 Kia says the EV3 will come in nine colors, including four

01:06 that were created especially for this model.

01:09 The light green you're seeing today

01:10 is called aventurine green.

01:12 Greetings from the inside of the EV3,

01:17 where things are very airy and spacious.

01:21 A couple of things I want to draw your attention to

01:23 is first this shelf here that you can absolutely

01:28 put a computer on.

01:30 And there's a cubby down here for bags, purses,

01:34 whatever you like.

01:37 This scroll screen right here works very seamlessly.

01:41 And the action refresh rate, everything seems very crisp.

01:45 That's great.

01:46 The driver and front passenger will

01:47 be able to take advantage of those touchscreens for things

01:50 like climate control.

01:52 In the name of sustainability, cabin materials

01:54 will include recycled dashboard and door trim fabric

01:57 and recycled plastic in the floor mats, door armrests,

02:01 and headliner.

02:01 The back seat of the EV3 is a shockingly spacious place.

02:08 I mean, maybe not so shocking if you're used to the Kia EVs.

02:12 But it is a very spacious spot with plenty of leg room

02:16 and good recline in the seat, good hip height,

02:19 decent headroom.

02:20 And the seats are actually pretty comfortable.

02:22 I would not mind spending a couple of hours

02:24 back here, even longer.

02:25 So that's good.

02:26 I also want to show you this cool feature of the trunk.

02:33 But first of all, the trunk.

02:36 It's pretty good.

02:37 These seats fold down for a flat floor.

02:40 However, if you want to add some storage space,

02:42 there is this clever cargo floor solution

02:46 where you can slide that floor right down.

02:48 And then it opens up all this extra room.

02:50 You can ride around like this or not.

02:52 Really depends on what you want.

02:53 But I will say, when this floor is lowered,

02:55 you kind of have these walls here

02:57 to prevent your stuff from spilling over.

02:59 So that's kind of a neat feature.

03:01 For now, Kia is showing us two trims of the EV3, base

03:05 and GT line.

03:08 From the outside, the base will have gray cladding,

03:10 while the GT line will have more high gloss cladding

03:13 and body colored panels.

03:15 It's unclear when we'll see full production versions of the EV3.

03:19 So some things might change between then and now.

03:22 But based on these cars, it seems

03:24 like things are pretty fully baked.

03:27 Kia has confirmed the EV3 is coming to the United States

03:30 market, and I couldn't be more excited for it.

03:32 We need more stylish subcompact EVs in the space.

03:36 And if the EV3 does indeed put down the numbers

03:39 that Kia says it does, well, that's

03:41 just one more great option for all of us.

03:44 [MUSIC]

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