Kia boss: Cheap small electric cars are 'economically difficult' to bring to market

The UK boss at Kia, Paul Philpott, has said that car makers are finding it ‘economically difficult’ to bring affordable smaller vehicles to market due to the high cost of batteries, despite the ban on new petrol and diesel cars looming in 2030.

His comments follow a report from the Advanced Propulsion Centre earlier this month that confirmed it has dramatically cut UK electric car production forecasts up to 2025 because battery vehicles remain too expensive for many motorists. 

Mr Philpott’s statement came during a launch event last week hosted at its British headquarters in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, where the UK boss reflected on the brand’s progression over the last 15 years – and where it’s going next. 

Industry figures show that Kia celebrated record sales of 100,191 units in 2022 – four times as many vehicles it sold to UK customers in 2007, making it Britain’s fastest-growing mainstream car brand.

To put its increasing popularity into perspective, more UK drivers bought Kias than Citroens, Fiats and Peugeots put together last year. 

The Korean car firm officially overtook Vauxhall for 2022 sales and only Volkswagen, Ford, Audi, BMW and Toyota shifted more motors in the previous 12 months. 

And sales of electric vehicles were a major contributor to its success. 

Of all the vehicles the brand shifted in 2022, 16.3 per cent were battery electric cars.

Source of data and images: dailymail