Kia Plans Midsize Pickup and Global Flagship Electric SUV

Kia has unveiled its mid- to long-term strategy through 2030, which includes launching a midsize body-on-frame pickup truck for the U.S. market and introducing a global "flagship" electric SUV. The plan was announced during Kia’s annual Investor Day event. The new midsize pickup will be offered with either a fully electric or range-extended hybrid powertrain, is expected to share a platform with Hyundai’s upcoming pickup, and could spawn a rugged SUV variant. Additionally, Kia plans to double its hybrid model lineup from four to eight vehicles and has set a global sales target of 1.02 million units by 2030. In 2023, Kia sold 852,155 vehicles in the U.S., and it aims to achieve annual U.S. pickup sales of 90,000 units by 2034. Beyond the pickup, Kia also plans to launch a new global "flagship BEV (battery electric vehicle)" as one of three all-new global models to be introduced within the next three years. It remains unclear whether this electric SUV will be offered in the U.S. market. The current flagship EV, the EV9, is built on Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP (Electric-Global Modular Platform), and Kia will introduce a next-generation dedicated EV architecture later this decade. Kia intends to expand its EV portfolio from 11 to 14 models, including nine SUVs and three commercial vehicles, with the compact EV1 among them. Despite this expansion, Kia has revised down its 2030 annual EV sales forecast from a previous target of 1.3 million units to 1 million units. Separately, Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy its new Atlas robots at two U.S. manufacturing plants by 2029.