One step beyond: how Kia plans to shake up the van market

In this transition era for the automotive industry, barely a week passes without a manufacturer wheeling out a bold new electric machine with a flashy presentation that claims it brings tomorrow’s technology to today’s roads and will transform the fortunes of the firm that made it.

But those presentations don’t normally include extended sections on load-bed access, Euro-pallet capacity and bumper repairability.

Except they do when your transformative vision of future motoring is a van-although that perhaps undersells the significance of the new Kia PV5. The firm labels it a Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV), and it’s the first in a range of highly customisable bespoke electric models intended to disrupt the commercial vehicle market and help continue Kia’s remarkable growth.

Think of the impact of the brand’s bespoke EV line-up, but for vans. This isn’t strictly Kia’s first foray into commercial vehicles: the Bongo cab-over pick-up has been sold in Korea and other markets since 1981 and spawned the Pregio van and MPV.

But this is an entirely fresh business model, and one designed for volume: Kia is aiming to reach sales of 250,000 PBVs annually by 2030. “This is the next chapter of the Kia story,” says Sangdae Kim, head of the firm’s PBV division. “This is how we move forward as a leading EV brand.”

Kim – known as SD, which he quips stands for “Smart Device, just like our PBVs” – has been building the new division for around four years. He says Kia identified the commercial vehicle market as one with “room for meaningful innovation” through the development of a line of electric vans, adding: “Our PBVs are designed to adapt to people, not force people to adapt to it.”

The electric van market is small but growing fast, particularly because many businesses are being pushed to switch to zero-emission models for their own environmental goals. But most electric vans on the market are either conversions of combustion vans (think the Ford E-Transit or the many Stellantis models), while the Volkswagen ID Buzz uses a lightly modified version of the VW Group’s MEB platform.

For its PBVs Kia has developed a specially tailored version of the Hyundai Motor Group’s bespoke EV platform, named E-GMP.S (Electric Global Modular Platform for Service), which the firm says gives much more flexibility to create a range of modular and customisable machines. It’s a front-driven platform, and the PV5 features a variety of battery sizes – giving a range of up to 258 miles and 4.4 cubic metres of load capacity.

The 4.7-metre-long PV5 is the first of those, with Kim describing it as “our way into the LCV market”. It will be followed by the PV7, which will be around 5.2 metres, based on a concept vehicle, and the PV9. Those two will arrive in 2027 and 2029 respectively.

Given how quickly Kia is filling out its EV line-up with a full range of numbered models, you can take a guess at how big the stable could eventually become. A small PV1 Concept has been shown, but smaller vehicles aren’t an early priority.

But each of the PBV line-up is far more than just a singular vehicle: the modular design allows for tremendous flexibility. The PV5 will be launched with Cargo and Passenger variants, but the range will eventually allow for seven bodytypes with 16 specifications.

So the Cargo will have three- and four-door versions, a larger-capacity High Roof option and crew and chassis cab variants. The Passenger will gain six- and seven-seat versions – it will be launched as a five-seater – along with a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle variant.

Kim says Kia conducted extensive research with potential customers in various fields – from delivery firms to ride-hailing services – to help develop the details of the PV5. For example, the bumpers are made in three parts, making it cheaper to replace a section if it is damaged, while the step height of the van has been kept as low as possible for delivery companies.

The dynamics of the PV5 have also been refined for its use scenario. In Cargo form it’s direct and easy to handle, with great visibility from the high-up driving position. It’s not hugely dynamic, but the car-based roots of the platform can be felt in more refined handling than many vans.

Inside, everything is built for purpose. It’s not as nicely appointed as the Passenger version, but the materials are all hard-wearing to cope with extended use and there’s loads of practical storage. That focus on usability and practicality is baked into every element.

The PV5 will be manufactured at Kia’s Autoland Hwaseong plant, located in the sprawling southern suburbs of Seoul. The 3.2 million-square-metre facility is Kia’s largest production site, with around 520,000 vehicles produced there each year, including the Sorento, Niro, EV6 and K8 saloon.

More than £560 million has been invested in constructing a new 100,000-square-metre facility to build the PV5, creating around 1000 jobs so far. When full mass production starts, the plant will have capacity of around 100,000 PV5s per year (along with about 70,000 Tasman pick-ups), with two eight-hour shifts per day producing a vehicle every four minutes or so. A second new production facility is already under construction at Hwaseong to manufacture the PV7 and PV9.

Autocar’s visit comes on a holiday at the factory, but the potential is clear as we wander along the vast production line. The process is highly automated, in part because of the need for the heavy flexibility required to produce such a wide range of variants on a single line.

But the unique aspect – and perhaps the real magic-of this plant is located at the end of the production line, where a large number of dedicated bays are waiting to accept newly constructed PV5s for extensive customisation.

This is the key to the business model dreamed up by Kia president Ho Sung Song, and it’s vital to the PBV operation by offering greater cost-effectiveness and being less wasteful. “With commercial vehicles, so many of them have a customisation process, which is normally done by outside partners,” Song tells Autocar.

Many commercial vehicles go straight from a production line to a third-party firm for conversion to meet the requirements of the company that’s buying them. That, says Song, is not good commercially, and it’s not good for the environment because people produce a new vehicle only to immediately throw out the production-line interior. It’s wasteful.

“By producing as many variants inside the factory as possible we can make that process easier, and we can produce the vehicles to meet the order from the start, with minimal waste,” says Song.

That means elements such as refrigerated units, bespoke shelving and storage can be added in the factory at source. Kia will still work with partners where appropriate: for example, it is planning light- and full-camper forms, with conversions done in the factory and through camper specialist Westfalia. Even then, Kia will supply vehicles to third-party firms with only the elements needed, so nothing has to be removed.

The other business aspect of the PBV side is software and fleet management: Kia has developed a bespoke operating system, which enables the cloud-based services and fleet management offerings that commercial vehicle customers require.

Europe, including the UK, and Canada will be key target markets at launch, but these are fully global products. Notably, Kia will sell the PV5 in Japan-the first time it has offered a vehicle in the market.

That’s partly for historical reasons you don’t see many Japanese cars in Korea, either – but Kim says the firm identified a huge opportunity given the growth potential of the electric LCV market there.

And it’s that growth potential that underpins this whole undertaking. “It’s going to be very challenging,” says Song of the prospect of hitting Kia’s ambitious PBV goals. “But we have a strong plan, and this is the right decision.”