Facelifted Kia EV6 Debuts with EV9-like Design & Bigger Battery

The all-new Kia EV6 facelift now looks more like the EV9, featuring similar styling cues and tons of equipment upgrades.

Following the teaser earlier this month, the facelifted Kia EV6 broke cover globally today. For its first-ever facelift treatment, Kia’s sporty EV crossover gains EV9-like stylings plus a slew of equipment upgrades inside out.

Starting with design, like many newly-facelifted Kia models of late, the EV6 also adopts the same sharp design cues we saw on its flagship EV model, the Kia EV9. Replacing the conventional headlight design on the pre-facelift model are the angular LED DRLs, with the actual headlights hidden within them.

Also changed here is the entire front fascia of the EV6, which includes the redesigned front bumper and grille. While the rest of the car looks the same as before, the EV6 facelift now comes with a slew of new wheel options, with sizes ranging from 19 to 20 inches.

The EV9-ification continues as we get inside the facelifted EV6, with this sleek EV crossover gaining a new curved panoramic display housing both the digital instrument cluster and the infotainment display that now supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

More importantly, said infotainment system also comes with over-the-air (OTA) software updates, covering the major electronic control systems of the car as well as the built-in navigation system with augmented reality (AR) integration.

Other new changes here include the redesigned two-spoke steering wheel, a novel fingerprint sensor that allows registered drivers to start the vehicle without the key, a digital rear-view mirror, and an improved head-up display (HUD).

Besides the cosmetic change, the facelifted EV6 also gets a larger 84-kWh battery pack.

By far the most important changes that took place in the facelifted EV6 were in its battery system, with this sleek EV crossover replacing its old 77.4-kWh battery pack with a larger 84-kWh one. This new pack allows the new EV6 a decent EV range of up to 494 KM for the single-motor RWD model while supporting 350 kW DCFC that allows a 10-80% charge to take place in just 18 minutes.

Besides the new battery, Kia engineers have also tweaked the facelifted EV6’s suspension system to improve ride comfort, while the E-GMP chassis the car rides on has been strengthened to improve safety.

Powertrain specs, however, remain unchanged from the pre-facelift model, as the new EV6’s single-motor RWD variant still outputs 225 HP (168 kW) and 350 NM. Meanwhile, the up-spec dual-motor AWD variant boasts a higher total system output of 320 HP (239 kW) and 605 NM.

Set to go on sale in its native South Korean market later in June this year, the all-new Kia EV6 facelift is priced at KRW 55.4 million (RM191,307) for the baseline single-motor RWD model and can go up to KRW 63.15 million (RM218,070) for the range-topping GT-Line AWD model. We can expect to learn more details regarding its availability in other international markets in the near future.