Kia Wants to Get into Purpose-Built EVs

• Kia plans to construct a factory for electric purpose-built vehicles (PBVs), which it seeks to offer starting in 2025.

• The automaker plans to use its eS skateboard platform to design a variety of commercial vehicles for businesses, ranging from delivery vehicles to mobile shops.

• Kia plans to offer offer advanced autonomous driving capabilities in this upcoming range of PBVs, which will include delivery robots.

Kia already has the makings of hit on its hands with the debut of the EV6, but the automaker is getting ready to enter one other segment that has been seeing a lot of attention from startups large and small: Electric purpose-built vehicles, or PBVs. The South Korean automaker has revealed plans to build a new plant just for PBVs in a few years, targeting commercial buyers.

At stake is the lucrative market for such vehicles from logistics giants and other businesses, like ride-hailing apps, with Kia seeking to pair EVs with the expected arrival of advanced autonomous technology, one that will allow for fleets of driverless vehicles to perform a variety of delivery and transportation tasks.

Kia has shared a couple of renderings previewing its idea of its upcoming PBVs, with its first model slated to arrive by the second half of 2025. The renderings reveal delivery and MPV sketches, with a couple perhaps showing some parallels to Canoo designs.