The electric SUV world is getting crowded, but Kia thinks it’s found a sweet spot. Meet the EV2, a new B-segment electric SUV that wants to be your first EV, your family car and your everyday runabout all at once. It’s compact, practical, packed with tech and at an estimated £26k/€30k, should be relatively affordable, too.

Kia is positioning the EV2 as its most accessible electric car yet. It sits below the brand’s bigger EV3 and EV5 SUVs but borrows their design language, technology and desirability. Think of it as a punchy YouTube short culled from your favourite long-form vid. The EV2 made its debut at this week’s Brussels Motor Show alongside GT-branded performance versions of the EV3, EV4 and EV5.

Related: Kia’s US EV Sales Collapsed, But It Just Did Something It’s Never Done Before

A circa-4.1m (160 inches) length means it’s suitably city-sized, the design is upright and confident, with vertical lighting signatures, chunky arches and a stance that looks adventurous and cute at the same time. Wheel choices run from 16 to 19 inches, and there’s even a GT line version if you want your small SUV with a side of attitude. Hopefully a full-house GT is in the works.

Up to 278 miles of range

Two batteries are offered, each coming with a different power output. A 42.2 kWh version mated to a 145 hp (147 PS / 108 kW) motor available from launch this spring promises up to 197 miles (317 km) for drivers with few plans to leave town.

Coming later, along with the GT-Line versions, the 61.0 kWh pack aims for 278 miles (448 km) and adds flexibility if you think you might need to take on some longer journeys. Kia hasn’t revealed how much muscle the EV2 with the bigger battery gets, but both models feature a single motor driving the front wheels.

Charging times hover around 30 minutes on DC fast chargers, though like the EV3, EV4 and EV5, the EV2 makes do with slower-charging 400-volt electrics, rather than the lightning-fast 800-volt hardware used in the pricier EV6 and EV9. But it does support both 11 and 22 kW AC charging and offers V2L and V2G, letting you power devices or even send energy back to the grid.

Renault 4-grade space

The EV2’s quoted 2,565 mm (101 inches) wheelbase is 59 mm (2.3 inches) shorter than a Renault 4’s, but Kia promises you won’t be disappointed by the interior space. Buyers get to choose between four- and five-seat configurations, and by sliding and reclining them you can stretch legroom or expand the cargo space depending on your needs. 

With seats slid forward, suitcase room tops out at up to 403 litres (14.2 cu-ft), in the slightly roomier four-seat version, which isn’t far short of the 420 liters (14.8 cu-ft) the Renault 4 delivers. Plus there’s a handy little 15-liter (0.5 cu-ft) frunk for cables that the Renault can’t match.

Big-car tech

The tech is also surprisingly serious for a so-called entry-level EV. You get a triple-screen layout with a digital cluster, climate display and central touchscreen, just like you do in Kia’s pricier cars. But it’s actually a new lower cost ‘lite’ version of the ccNC infotainment system designed for the company’s more affordable cars. 

OTA updates, digital keys and app integration are all part of the deal, as are remote parking, surround view cameras and a long list of driver assistance systems normally reserved for more expensive cars.

Made in Europe for Europe, the Slovakia-built EV2 is shaping up to be yet another big hit for Kia. If it gets the pricing right, this could be one of the most important electric launches of the next few years, because small, sensible and actually affordable sounds bang on trend right now.

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Kia’s effort to cover almost every EV base takes another big step forward in January with the debut of the smallest car in its electric family. We’ve already seen the EV2 in concept form at the beginning of this year, but 11 months on we’ll get to see how much of it has made the leap to the street.

The trending Korean brand didn’t reveal too much about the production version of its baby SUV this week beyond announcing its scheduled appearance at the Brussels Motor Show and confirming it will be built in Europe for its local clients.

Related: Kia’s Smallest EV Could Become One Of Its Most Thrilling Performance Models

But Kia did release three teaser images, and though the car is covered in a sheet in all of them, we can where the production EV2 differs from the concept unveiled at Kia EV Day 2025. The good news is the overall profile and chunky proportions are unchanged.

Small changes, same effect

We can see the squared-off nose, the kink in the waistline, the slightly sporty slope to the rear section of the roof and the spoiler at the top of the rear hatch. Those same details appeared on the EV2 concept, and though the production car’s DRLs, visible through the sheet, aren’t exactly the same, they’re close enough.

But it’s also easy to spot some major, and inevitable, departures. The front overhang looks longer, because concepts don’t need to meet crash regulations but road cars do, and there looks to be a conventional B-pillar too.

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Kia promises the EV2 will feature “roomy, adjustable space,” but we’ll have to wait until January 9 to find out exactly what that means. By folding the rear seats and sliding the front bench backwards, passengers in the concept could relax, stretch their legs, and sit on the flat floor when parked.

AWD looks, FWD reality

Other details that won’t be uncovered until the debut include the power and range stats. But from what we know about Kia’s other affordable (sub-EV6) electric cars, we can be sure it will have 400- rather than 800-volt charging and despite its all-wheel drive styling, will feature a single motor acting on the front wheels even on sporty GT models.

The closely related Hyundai Inster has a choice of 39 kWh and 46 kWh batteries, is rated at 203-229 miles (327-369 km) of range and the biggest of its two available motors makes just 113 hp (114 PS / 84 kW). Let’s hope Kia’s version punches a little harder.

The EV2 will go on sale during 2026 and Kia is believed to be targeting a €30,000 (£26k / $35k) price to compete with other electric SUVs such as the Renault 4 E-Tech.

The images below are of the EV2 Concept revealed at Kia Day in February 2025.

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