Kia Australia has bumped up the asking price of its extremely popular and supply-restricted EV6 all-electric crossover by as much as $4600.
This means the local Kia EV6 range now starts at $72,590 before on-road costs for the entry-level Air, and extends to $87,590 before on-road costs for the GT-Line AWD.
“An increase in costs globally and locally, such as raw materials, production and logistical costs, has resulted in an adjustment to the local recommended retail price of the EV6 range,” said a Kia Australia spokesperson in a statement.
“Our objective at Kia Australia is to ensure the pricing is still acceptable to the market place and most importantly the consumer.”
In addition to this price rise, Kia Australia has confirmed it will not offer price protection to current EV6 order holders who ordered before the price rise.
This means that existing EV6 order holders who don’t agree to the $4600 price rise will be forced to cancel their order and have their deposit refunded.
Their spot will be given to the next person in line who is willing to pay the extra money.
This lack of price protection also means that existing EV6 order holders may have to bear the brunt of future price increases as well.
For context, when you put a deposit down for a Tesla you are locked into that price regardless of any price increases that may occur during your wait time.
Many other automakers already offer similar price protection policies for order holders that have put down a deposit and have a build slot for their vehicle.
Kia Australia has already gone on the record confirming around 500 units of the EV6 will be available to Australians in 2022, staggered throughout the course of the year. This lack of supply has caused rumoured wait times to hit around two years.
With the price increase this now puts the entry-level EV6 Air out of contention for the Western Australian $3500 electric vehicle (EV) rebate for buyers spending less than $70,000.
It’s worth noting as well that although the EV6 Air has now officially surpassed the circa-$68,750 threshold for the Victorian, New South Wales and South Australian $3000 EV rebate, it was never really applicable for it in the first place.
This is because dealer delivery, typically between $1000 and $2000, once added to the previous $67,990 before on-road costs asking price for the EV6 Air put it over this threshold.
This price increase puts the current flagship EV6 GT-Line AWD eerily close to the expected cost for the upcoming high-performance EV6 GT which is earmarked to arrive either late in 2022 or early in 2023.
MORE: What electric car buyer incentives are offered across Australia?
EV6 GT
“Dealers are taking deposits now [of the EV6 GT] without any knowledge of price, and the dealer will give an indicative and I think most of our dealers are suggesting somewhere in the vicinity of $100,000,” said Kia Australia product planning manager Roland Rivero in June 2022.
“That definitely hasn’t stopped people putting $2000 down,” he added, referring to the refundable deposits buyers have been placing.
Regardless, Kia Australia confirmed today that it has a “significant number of orders” for the EV6 GT.
The regular Kia EV6 is currently available in two different trim levels – Air and GT-Line.
Single-motor rear-wheel drive is standard on Air and GT-Line models, with the latter also available with a more powerful dual-motor all-wheel drive setup.
All versions of the regular Kia EV6 in Australia come standard with a long-range 77.4kWh battery, good for up to 528km of claimed range according to WLTP testing.
Updated 2022 pricing for the Kia EV6 is as follows:
- 2022 Kia EV6 Air: $72,590 (+$4600)
- 2022 Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD: $79,590 (+$4600)
- 2022 Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD: $87,590 (+$4600)
MORE: Everything Kia EV6
