Enabled highly competitive niche of commercial vehicles in Europe, the Hyundai-Kia group cannot really impose itself. Stellantis and its Peugeot, Citroën, Opel/Vauxhall and Fiat Professional brands are historically dominant. Not forgetting Renault, Volkswagen Utility, Ford and Mercedes-Benz Of course! However, Hyundai introduced its H350 large van at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. Opponent of the master, jumper, sprinter or crafter. After all, it was never sold here, Hyundai prefers to focus on passenger cars. But it was also available at our neighbors the latest Staria van available in Belgium and Germany especially! The case is different for Kia, whose utilities have never conquered Europe, except for dribs and drabs in a few markets. Bongo passenger car or Pregio minibus for example, never arrived in our country. Interest would be minimal given the saturation of the commercial vehicle market.

The power surge also affects utilities

But with the advent of electricity, the situation may change. This applies not only to passenger cars, but also to commercial vehicles. However, this is not new. THE Nissan e-NV200 since 2009, Renault Kangoo ZE since 2011. Since then, most commercial vehicle manufacturers have started to do so. Vivaro-e at Opel/Vauxhall, e-Scudo at Fiat, Trafic E-Tech at Renault. There were also new models, no longer based on thermal models. This is the case Volkswagen ID.Buzz Example. But this electric wave also brought out manufacturers or brands that we did not expect at the turn. Chinese Maxus and its vans eDeliver3 and eDeliver9. But also DFSK and its small light trucks, which we see more and more often in municipal car parks. All this in order to emphasize what now seems to be space for new participants in the electricity market in Europe…

Kia is completely in utility

A breach where Kia intends to penetrate who dreams of making a name for themselves in this booming market. The Hyundai/Kia group will develop in the future two platforms: eM for cars, eS for minibuses. Such as “Skateboard” they will allow to offer almost unlimited possibilities of models. In different sizes, shapes and philosophies. Kia has already shown what its future electric cars on the eS platform might look like. We see four utility models, each with its own light signature. They are united by an impressive Kia logo instead of a radiator grille. The first serial model is expected in 2025. This goes hand in hand with Kia’s development strategyby the end of 2023, the world’s third producer of electric models. The push to achieve this goal is intensifying, and Kia has announced investments until 2030 18.1 billion dollars for electricity.