There’s no doubt Kia no offers one of the broadest product ranges of any car manufacturer in the Australian market, an achievement it’s now adding to with the launch of the all-electric Kia PV5 van.

It’s an ambitious introduction in a segment that hasn’t yet made a big impact on the commercial van sales charts. But according to Kia Australia CEO Dennis Piccoli, it’s another example of the South Korean manufacturer’s ability to offer the right product at the right time, while at the same time, broadening the showroom portfolio.

“When you talk about the tipping point (of too many brands or market saturation) and the new entrants in the market, what’s occurred with fuel prices in recent months has propelled a couple of brands more than others, that’s the first thing there…” Piccoli told WhichCar by Wheels.

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Piccoli agreed that Australians are looking at price more forensically than perhaps they have before. And that the breadth of choice in the Australian new car market is something legacy brands have to be aware of.

“How do we tackle it? Well, it’s by virtue of the models that we’ve got and the variants that we have, which give us the ability to go after all the various segments,” Piccoli said. “That’s what’s delivering the growth for us. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an EV, or whether its internal combustion, or whether it’s a hybrid, we’ve got a car for pretty much everybody.”

Piccoli’s point is that Kia believes its diverse offering will allow it to continue to stay strong in a fracturing market.

“It really does mitigate our risk where perhaps some of the other legacy brands have probably got a little it of an issue,” Piccoli said. “For us, [it’s] our strength moving forward.”

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That growth continues with the launch of the all-electric PV5 – into a segment that is quite small, and as such Kia has conservative expectations for how many it can sell. To put things into perspective, Toyota sold 11,073 HiAce vans in 2025 for 46 per cent market share, while the top-selling electric van, the ID Buzz Cargo saw only 190 leave dealerships. Electric vans as a wholevmade up just two per cent of all commercial van sales in 2025.

“Now with the van we’re entering into another segment, and it will be incremental volume,” Piccoli said. “So we think we’re in a pretty good space, but it is an interesting marketplace at this point in time.”