Kia's smallest, cheapest new electric car will be called EV2, on sale in 2026

Kia has confirmed its smallest, most affordable EV will launch in 2026. Yep, there will be a little electric car in Kia’s range that’ll be smaller than the new EV3, and thanks to Kia’s straightforward new naming strategy we already know that it’ll be called the EV2.

“It’s a car for Europe and it’ll be built in Europe at Žilina [Kia’s factory in Slovakia] – that’s confirmed,” said Kia’s European marketing boss David Hilbert.

“Obviously, the small car segments are very important for the European market because of the densely populated cities and the challenges with parking etcetera. So that’s why EV2 is going to be an important car for us in the future, and I guess it will be the entry point to our dedicated EV lineup.

“Pricing we’re nowhere near, because it’s 2026 we’re talking about for the launch.”

So yeah, no word on how much it could potentially cost. We’ll have to wait until we see pricing for the EV3 to get a guide on that. TG also asked Hilbert about whether it’d be a little hatchback or yet another small crossover.

“We haven’t got final designs confirmed yet. It’s still in development because it’s obviously still two years away so there are various things being looked at. But certainly, it will sit beneath the EV3.”

And what about the possibility of a Picanto-sized teeny EV? “We don’t have that information,” says Hilbert. “Nothing is confirmed for EV1.”

Probably for the best – things didn’t go so well for GM when it used the name in the 1990s…