Kia is reported to be preparing a midsize electric SUV called the EV7, and the evidence is a single internal document. The file, from Kia’s Employment Stability Committee, says production of the mid-range electric SUV “EV7” is to proceed at the company’s Gwangju factory in South Korea. It gives no specifications, price or launch date.
Help yourself and the planet: The Cool Down makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet, with smart, simple changes to save more and waste less in your everyday life.
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
The EV7 would fit into the gap between the EV6 and the three-row EV9, a space that Kia’s current electric range leaves open.
Contents of the leaked committee document
The document was found by KoreanCarBlog, which published its contents on Nov. 3 in paraphrase, without reproducing the page itself. According to that account, the file lays out production plans for Kia’s Korean plants over the next few years, and the EV7 line is one entry among several. Electrek’s Peter Johnson picked up the find on Nov. 4.
Other entries show what a committee focused on jobs cares about: the Gwangmyeong plant is slated to build a completely redesigned 2028 Carnival Hybrid and a hydrogen Carnival by 2029, while the Hwaseong plant is lined up for a redesigned Sorento Hybrid in 2028. Gwangju, the EV7’s home, is also listed for an improved Bongo truck in 2028. The EV7 entry carries no date at all. Kia has not confirmed the model, its specifications, pricing or timing. Everything beyond the plant assignment and the segment is expectation, and Electrek flags that its own size and charging guesses are speculative.
The EV7’s slot between the EV6 and EV9
Kia’s own U.S. pages show the size of the gap. The EV6 is a five-door crossover starting at $37,900 before fees, with EPA-estimated range from 237 to 319 miles depending on trim and an 800-volt system that Kia says can take the battery from 10% to 80% in about 20 minutes. The EV9 seats up to seven, starts at $54,900 and tops out at 305 miles on its Light Long Range rear-drive trim.
A midsize EV7 would land in the $17,000 span between those starting prices, if Kia holds the same positioning. That is arithmetic on current prices, not a Kia figure. Electrek expects the EV7 to run larger than the smaller EV5, possibly closer to the Sorento in size, and to use an 800-volt architecture like the EV6 and EV9. The EV5, by comparison, runs a 400-volt system and takes about 30 minutes to go from 10% to 80%, according to Electrek, against roughly 18 to 25 minutes for the 800-volt siblings.
A lineup that keeps growing
The leak arrives as Kia’s electric range fills out. Electrek lists the EV2, EV3, EV4, EV5, EV6, EV9 and PV5 van as the current set, with the EV2 arriving earlier this year. At its CEO Investor Day in April, Kia said it plans 14 electric models by 2030 and a European target of 66% electric sales that year. Kia also described a new electric platform meant to raise product performance and cost competitiveness, with up to 40% more battery capacity and a 9% improvement in motor output, though it gave no specifics on which models would use it. Whether the EV7 rides that platform is not stated anywhere in the leaked file.
Electrek’s yardstick for size is the EV5, which measures 4,615 millimeters long, 1,875 wide and 1,675 tall on a 2,750-millimeter wheelbase, roughly the footprint of a Sportage. It carries an 81.4 kilowatt-hour battery and a WLTP range of up to 329 miles. If the EV7 is meant to sit above that and below the three-row EV9, the available room is a length and wheelbase closer to the Sorento, which is how Electrek frames its guess.
Software is the other open question. Electrek says Kia’s coming vehicles are expected to use Hyundai’s CODA software architecture, the Pleos Connect infotainment system and Gleo, an in-vehicle agentic assistant, with Level 2++ highway driving assistance. None of that is attributed to the EV7 in the leaked file, and Kia has not linked the model to those systems. The commercial backdrop is healthy. Electrek, citing Kia’s October global sales release, reports 291,219 vehicles sold, up 10.3% from October 2025 and the eighth straight month of year-over-year growth. Strong volume gives Kia room to add a model between two established nameplates.
Context from Kia’s April investor presentation, as Electrek summarized it, shows why a midsize slot is plausible. In Europe the planned lineup adds three purpose-built vehicles, a new C-segment electric SUV and a first software-defined B-segment hatchback. Those are European plans, and the committee file concerns a Korean plant, so the EV7 may or may not be sold in America. Kia has not said where it will go on sale, and the fifth-generation batteries with up to 15% higher energy density that Kia described for its new platform have not been tied to it.
The single unanswered question that matters most is timing. Neither the committee file nor Electrek puts a date on the EV7, and Kia has said nothing publicly. Until the automaker responds, the EV7 exists as one line in a labor-committee document and a segment slot between the EV6 and EV9.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
Help yourself and the planet: Get The Cool Down →
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
More from Morning Overview
- Regulators cleared the first U.S. small modular reactor, 4 months early
- Lake Powell sank to a record 3,517 feet, nearing the level that stops Glen Canyon Dam’s turbines
- Seven of Earth’s nine planetary boundaries are breached, and all seven are worsening
- The NSA says three phone features should be off whenever you aren’t using them
