First contact: facelifted Kia EV6 will look even more like a UFO

27 Nov 2023

How do you make one of the most striking electric cars on sale even more of a head-turner? That’s the conundrum that Kia is currently facing as it’s planning to update the Kia EV6 mid-size crossover next year, following the unveiling of the larger seven-seat EV9 and the boxier EV5 earlier in 2023.

Speaking to DrivingElectric, Kia boss David Hilbert said the EV6 will “sometime in the future” adopt a “common design language” with the larger Kia EV9. With this in mind, we can expect the updated car to get a more simplistic front-end look, as well as a more distinctive set of LED headlights. Like the ones fitted to the larger EV9, the facelifted EV6’s headlights will be housed separately from the running lights, with the latter getting a new angular signature to tie the car in with newer models in the Kia EV line-up.

That’s not all, as we also expect more changes to happen at the rear, namely in the form of a revised set of taillights. Currently, the EV6 features a full-width LED light bar across the bootlid, and while we don’t expect this to change when it comes to the updated car, Kia could decide to make it more angular to build further commonality between the EV6 and its siblings.

On the inside, we expect the overall design of the EV6’s interior to stay relatively the same, although there will almost certainly be an updated choice of interior themes and colours; production issues have meant that recently buyers have been limited to just black interior upholstery, though the update could reintroduce lighter shades, like those seen on the larger EV9 at launch.

Also taken straight from the EV9 will be the EV6’s new infotainment system; the EV6’s rather finicky touch-sensitive media and climate control panel will be swapped in favour of a new tri-screen infotainment system. The EV9 also features some physical buttons for the climate controls, so it’s not impossible to suggest the update EV6 would get these, too.

What we don’t expect to change, however, is the EV6’s 77kWh battery pack; shared with the Hyundai Ioniq 5, this provides a range of up to 328 miles on rear-wheel-drive models. The boffins at Kia may be able to make some efficiency tweaks, though, so it’s possible that we could see a minor increase in range across the board for all EV6 models. This would be a welcome upgrade, especially given the facelifted Polestar 2 – also a lifted fastback – is now capable of over 400 miles on a single charge.

Hilbert remained pretty tight-lipped as to when we’ll see the facelifted EV6, though he did give us a small hint saying Kia tends to do facelifts “every three years”. With this in mind and given the fact that the Kia EV6 first went on sale in 2021, a reveal date of Summer 2024 seems reasonable. Of course, like everything these days, you can expect a small uplift over the EV6’s current £45,245 starting price.