Tag Archives: EVs

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Kia Expands Its EV Lineup with Three New GT Performance Models

Kia is pushing its electric vehicle strategy into more performance-oriented territory, unveiling GT versions of the EV3 crossover, EV4 hatch and fastback, and EV5 SUV at the Brussels Motor Show. These newcomers join the existing EV6 and EV9 GT models, expanding Kia’s roster of high-performance electrics.

The trio shares a philosophy articulated by Alex Papapetropolous, Kia Europe’s planning boss, who told Autocar, “We don’t treat GT like a one-off, like some competitors. GT models are about more than just extra power. We have hardware to deliver everyday emotion – and we want to deliver that in a sophisticated way.”

The EV3 and EV4 GTs are built on the Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP platform and share a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup that pairs a 194-hp front motor with a 94-hp rear unit, producing a combined 288 horsepower. Both draw energy from an 81.2-kWh battery, the same as the Long Range versions of their standard siblings. Official range figures haven’t been released, but performance is respectable: the EV3 GT hits 62 mph in 5.7 seconds, while the more aerodynamic EV4 GT clips that by a tenth of a second.

Kia has gone beyond raw numbers with these models. Bespoke chassis tuning, electronically controlled suspension with unique GT settings, cornering stability enhancements, and 20-inch performance tires are all part of the package. A dedicated GT drive mode further sharpens throttle response, steering, and suspension behavior for what Kia describes as a “more focused and immersive driving character.”

Inside, the EV3 GT features bucket-style seats inspired by the EV9 GT and neon-accented trim. The EV4 GT, offered in both hatch and fastback forms, adds a three-spoke steering wheel and other sporty interior touches. Both models also feature Kia’s virtual gearshift system, which uses active sound design to enhance the driving experience—a feature familiar from the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and the forthcoming Genesis GV60 Magma.

Kia GT Performance EV Lineup

The EV5 GT, meanwhile, steps up with a slightly more powerful powertrain: a 208-hp front motor combines with a rear motor for a total output of 302 horsepower, enabling a 0-62 mph sprint in 6.2 seconds. While Kia hasn’t disclosed battery size or full performance specs, the standard EV5’s 88.1-kWh pack is a likely candidate. The SUV also benefits from electronically controlled suspension with a “road preview system” that adjusts automatically to upcoming bumps and curves, along with performance tires and bespoke sport interior elements.

Production of all three GT models is slated for the second quarter of 2026, though pricing and UK availability have not yet been announced.

With these additions, Kia is signaling that GT is no longer just a halo badge—it’s an ethos across its EV lineup, combining everyday usability with genuine driving excitement.

Source: Autocar

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Ford Thinks It Can Build the World’s Cheapest EV Motors

Ford wants to sell you an electric pickup for $30,000. Not a “starting at” fantasy stripped of wheels and dignity, but a real, midsize electric truck you can actually buy when it arrives in 2027. The secret sauce, according to Ford, isn’t magic batteries, miracle chemistry, or government fairy dust—it’s an electric motor that costs less than anything on the planet, including those made in China.

That’s the claim from Doug Field, Ford’s head of EVs and a veteran of Tesla, Apple, and the Model 3 program, who told MotorTrend that Ford’s next-generation electric motors undercut every benchmark his team could find. Yes, even the Chinese units that benefit from massive scale, aggressive automation, and labor costs Western automakers can’t touch.

If Ford is right, this motor isn’t just a component—it’s the keystone holding up the entire Universal EV project, the internal codename for Ford’s next wave of affordable electric vehicles.

Rear-Drive, All-Wheel Drive, No Funny Business

Despite earlier comments from Ford CEO Jim Farley that suggested a rear-wheel-drive-only strategy, Field clarified that Ford’s upcoming electric pickup won’t be a one-trick pony. At launch, buyers will be able to choose between rear-wheel drive and a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup, both wrapped in a single four-door crew-cab body style.

Rear-drive trucks will use a permanent-magnet motor, while AWD models will add an induction motor up front—an architecture straight out of the Tesla playbook and one Field knows intimately. Battery options will also vary, letting buyers decide whether they want to prioritize price or range. In other words, Ford is aiming for flexibility without complexity—an EV unicorn if they can pull it off.

The California Skunkworks That Built It

Here’s the twist: Ford says this motor could only have been developed outside Ford.

The Universal EV program is run by a roughly 500-person team operating out of a deliberately isolated office in Long Beach, California—about as far culturally and geographically from Dearborn as you can get without crossing an ocean. The idea, Field says, was to recruit “20x contributors”—engineers capable of delivering twenty times the output of an average employee.

That talent came from places like Tesla, Rivian, and Apple, not from traditional Detroit pipelines. And rather than relying on supplier squeeze tactics—Detroit’s historic strength—this team focused on designing the motor to be cheap from the start.

No exotic materials. No moonshot tech. Just ruthless simplification, aggressive integration, and fewer parts.

Cutting Cost by Deleting Stuff Entirely

The Universal EV philosophy goes well beyond motors. Ford is rethinking how vehicles are designed, assembled, and even conceptualized, with the explicit goal of deleting cost rather than negotiating it away.

The upcoming electric truck uses:

  • 25 percent fewer fasteners than a typical vehicle
  • A wiring harness 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than the Mustang Mach-E’s
  • Large aluminum unicastings that replace dozens of smaller structural parts
  • A battery pack whose top surface doubles as the cabin floor

This isn’t incremental improvement—it’s Tesla-style manufacturing logic filtered through Ford’s scale and truck experience.

Faster to Build Than an Escape

Ford says the new EV will roll off the line at its Louisville, Kentucky, plant 15 percent faster than the Ford Escape that previously occupied the space. And the gain doesn’t come from robot overload. Instead, it comes from removing steps entirely.

Workstations at the plant will be cut by 40 percent, not because humans are slow, but because unnecessary tasks are expensive. It’s manufacturing minimalism, and Ford is betting it’s the only way to make a truly affordable EV in the U.S.

The Clock Is Ticking

Field believes there’s a narrow window where this approach works—before EV motors become fully commoditized and suppliers lock in their advantage. If Ford gets there first, it gains a cost edge that could last years.

If it doesn’t? Then this $30,000 electric pickup becomes just another ambitious slide deck.

But if Ford actually delivers on its promises, the Universal EV won’t just be a cheaper truck. It’ll be proof that Detroit can still out-engineer the world—when it’s willing to forget how it’s always done things.

And that might be Ford’s boldest move yet.

Source: MotorTrend

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Kosmera Nebula 1 Is a 1,876-HP Electric Sedan

If you squint at the Kosmera Nebula 1 long enough, you might forget that it comes from Dreame—a company better known for keeping dust bunnies in check than for chasing lap times. But here we are, at CES in Las Vegas, staring at a low-slung, four-door electric concept that looks less like a tech demo and more like a serious shot across the bow of the established performance-EV elite.

The Nebula 1 still wears a dramatic silhouette, but the overdone hypercar cosplay seen in earlier teasers has been dialed back. What’s left is something leaner and more athletic, with proportions that feel closer to a modern Lotus than a sci-fi prop. Yes, there’s a hint of Bugatti-like drama in the C-pillar kink, but the nose is far more Ferrari F8 Tributo than Chiron horseshoe. Importantly, it doesn’t read as a copy of any single car—which, in today’s copy-paste concept landscape, is a small victory in itself.

Despite having four doors, the Nebula 1 screams supercar more than sedan. The roofline is low, the stance is wide, and the carbon-fiber lower aero package looks ready to scrape a pit lane apron. A motorsport-style wing perched on the trunk lid suggests that Kosmera isn’t shy about its track-day ambitions, even if this thing is still very much a concept.

Those ambitions are backed up by some appropriately unhinged numbers. The Nebula 1 packs a quad-motor electric drivetrain producing a claimed 1,876 horsepower (1,399 kW). Zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) allegedly takes just 1.8 seconds, putting it squarely in the same performance bracket as China’s growing list of electric heavy hitters, including the Yangwang U9 and Xiaomi SU7 Ultra—and, frankly, faster than anything most legacy European brands are currently selling.

Things get a bit murkier when you zoom out. Alongside the Nebula 1, Kosmera teased two additional four-door cars at CES. One appears to be a close relative—possibly another flavor of the Nebula concept—while the third has a longer dash-to-axle ratio and two visible filler flaps. That detail strongly suggests a front-engined plug-in hybrid, which would mark a notable departure from the Nebula 1’s all-electric bravado.

For now, the Nebula 1 remains an exterior-only concept, with no interior shown and plenty of unanswered questions. According to company leadership, production is planned for later this year, potentially at a facility in Berlin, not far from Tesla’s Gigafactory. Final specs, equipment, and—critically—pricing are still up in the air.

But if Kosmera manages to deliver something close to what it’s promising here, and prices it in the same neighborhood as the SU7 Ultra, the Porsche Taycan could be in for an even rougher time than it’s already having. It’s a strange world when a vacuum cleaner company is building a four-door electric missile—but then again, the EV era has a way of sucking up old assumptions.

Source: CarNewsChina via YouTube