(Credit: Kia)
LAS VEGAS—After a five-year hiatus from CES, Kia is back to unveil its new "Platform Beyond Vehicles" (PBV) strategy to make vehicles that change form depending on the driver's needs.
Karim Habib, EVP and head of Kia global design, says this will allow for "exceptional flexibility through radical modularity," giving drivers "a blank canvas to redefine their needs."
Though Kia was light on practical details, it says the vehicles could go from "a taxi during the day, to a delivery van at night, and a personal recreational vehicle on the weekends." When parked, the vehicle could be used as a living room or an office, with its storage system turning into a pop-up shop, per the image above.
A universal chassis will feature a series of interchangeable modules that can be connected in various combinations through a "hybrid electromagnetic and mechanical coupling technology." This will allow for the quick and simple in-field transformation, Kia says, and reduces the environmental footprint by re-using the same base.
Sound ambitious? Kia laid out a three-phase plan that will likely take decades to achieve. At CES, it kicked off the plan with the debut of the first five concept vehicles: the PV 5, which has three variants, as well as the smaller PV 1 and larger PV 7.
In phase one, Kia will introduce the PV 5 concept variants for primarily business uses (taxis, delivery vans). The PV 1 and PV7 will join the lineup in phase two, when Kia will also introduce an "integrated rail system on the vehicle’s ceiling, floor, and side panels, as well as on the exterior." This enables the type of modularity that underpins the whole vision.
Phase three is when everyday drivers may get to play Tetris with their own PBVs, though Kia is a bit cagey on what this would look like. An early version of the press release referenced phase three bringing "highly personalized," swappable consumer products. The final release removed mention of consumer products and replaced it with "highly customizable, bespoke mobility solutions" that can integrate with "the future mobility ecosystem."
Sounds like time will tell if someday average consumers can turn their car into a family commuter car during the week, and a two-seat pickup truck on the weekends, for example.
In the meantime, Kia continues to develop cars as we currently know them. Those at CES 2024 can get a glimpse of Kia's previously announced affordable EV concepts and the new EV9 SUV. The latter is Kia's first 7-seat electric SUV priced for everyday drivers, with a starting price of $54,900 and up to a 305-mile range.