2026 Kia EV2: Small electric car ruled out for Australia

Kia has confirmed a circa-$50K EV2 electric city car will launch in 2026, but it won’t be available in Australia.

Along with unveiling a family of models at its Kia EV Day event – including the production EV5 medium SUV, Concept EV4 sedan, and Concept EV3 small SUV – the company has quietly confirmed to Autocar [↗] that a smaller city-focused EV2 is also coming, most likely a hatchback.

However, Kia Australia’s product planner Roland Rivero has confirmed to Wheels it won’t come to Australia.

It will be made in Kia's Slovakian factory, which currently produces the Europe-only short-wheelbase Sportage SUV and Ceed hatchback.

Australia lacks a free trade agreement with Slovakia – which saves a five per cent import tax – so there’s no business case to offer it locally.

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The Kia EV2 was quietly confirmed outside of this family picture

With a targeted starting price of around AU$47,500 (US$30,000), it’ll likely be a more premium small electric car offering to rival the pricier Fiat 500e, upcoming Peugeot E-208, and Mini Cooper Electric.

That's instead of the sub-$40K Chinese-made BYD Dolphin, MG 4 and GWM Ora, which Hyundai and Kia aren’t targeting, though they can cost around $50K or more for a top-spec variant.

Similar to the circa-$40K Volkswagen ID.2, the Kia EV2 will focus on European markets where there is more demand for smaller EVs.

A high-performance EV2 GT is also reportedly being developed.

Kia hasn’t revealed any details yet, but expect the EV2 to use the Hyundai Motor Group’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) based on a lower-cost 400-volt class battery architecture, as per the EV3, EV4 and EV5.