2023 Kia EV6 wait times fall to around 3 months, backlog to soon clear

Kia Australia has confirmed to Wheels that EV6 electric SUV wait times have “significantly improved”.

There is still a backlog to get through, but once that's cleared Kia estimates EV6 wait times will fall to around three months. This applies to all four variants, from the entry-level Air to the newly-introduced EV6 GT.

A Kia Australia spokesperson told Wheels that the reduced wait times are due to a “combination of supply freeing up and the Kia Australia sales team consistently rallying for more supply since launch.”

While the company didn’t detail how long the current EV6 order backlog is, Kia does expect it to "clear reasonably quickly over the next several months, with customers receiving their orders sooner than initially advised."

Despite the reprieve for Kia’s sporty electric crossover, the popular top-spec petrol- and diesel-powered Sportage GT-Line medium SUV remains off-sale due to component shortages – three months after orders were paused.

Since its local launch in early 2022, the EV6 made headlines for extended waiting times of between one to two years due to industry-wide supply constraints and a small allocation for Australia.

EV6 supply has gradually improved to a one-year wait or less – with some in-stock dealer demonstrators available. Chinese-made newcomers, including the top-selling Tesla Model Y medium electric SUV and more affordable BYD Atto 3 small SUV, are selling in far greater numbers.

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EV6 sales in context

So far this year (to the end of July), Kia has only sold 702 EV6’s – in contrast to the Tesla Model Y (17,332) and BYD Atto 3 (7201).

The Volvo XC40 Recharge (1663) and C40 Recharge (781) electric SUV rivals have also surpassed the EV6 in sales thus far.

Meanwhile, the related Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUV (526) still has supply difficulties – despite the removal of occasional online ‘sales drops’.

In contrast, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 sedan (342) appears to benefit from more stock allocation in Australia, with many examples available for immediate delivery depending on the location, according to Hyundai's local online configurator.

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Overall, since the Kia EV6’s launch, 1266 examples have been registered in Australia – or about one-fifth the Tesla Model Y (26,049) in total.

The 2023 Kia EV6 is priced from $72,590 before on-road costs. It was subject to a $4600 increase in mid-2022.

Our original story continues below unchanged.

June 3, 2022: EV6 supply bolstered for 2022

Around 100 more examples of Kia’s halo electric car – the EV6 – are expected to land locally later this year, the company has confirmed.

Following an initial allocation of 500 vehicles, Kia Australia execs have said that lobbying their Korean bosses for more stock since the car’s launch at the beginning of 2022 has resulted in more coming our way.

“We spoke about 500 at launch, and we think we can get a little bit more than that – but not a great deal more. Over this year we can get another 100 cars in, taking us to around the 600 mark for 2022,” Kia’s General Manager of Product Planning, Roland Rivero, told Wheels.

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“We hope next year there will be a far more abundant supply than the 600 or so. I’ve read several articles it is a three year wait for people, it won’t be, we can get more supply in 2023, but at least there’s more in the pipeline for 2022.”

At launch, only two examples of the Kia EV6 were allocated to dealerships initially, with supply staggered throughout 2022.

Of the 91 Kia dealerships across Australia, a handful are being set up to both sell and service the EV6 – the Korean carmaker’s first dedicated electric car.

Selling the model through its Australia-wide dealership network is a strategic difference between the EV6 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. While the two vehicles are underpinned by the same battery-electric architecture, Hyundai Australia has opted to sell its allocation of 400 Ioniq 5s at a fixed price through its website.

It’s understood deposits for the EV6 have now reached around the 2000 mark – with some of those being for the upcoming flagship GT variant – which hasn’t been released locally yet. Rivero confirmed it’s expected to arrive during the fourth quarter of this year, or very beginning of next year in the worst case scenario.

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“We’ve already started tuning that variant,” he said. “Part of that is being done in Germany and we’re going to complete the rest of the electric suspension tuning here in Australia.”

Pricing for the 2023 Kia EV6 GT hasn’t yet been announced, but it’s likely to become the most expensive car offered by the Korean carmaker in Australia – with a price tag set to fall close to $100,000.

“We haven’t even driven that [GT] variant yet, but we’re pretty excited. The [regular] EV6 is the best Kia I’ve ever driven and if that’s any indication of what the GT will be, we’re off to something special that’s never been part of this brand before,” Chief Operating Officer Damien Meredith previously told us.

The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive EV6 GT produces 430kW and 740Nm. With a quoted 0-100km/h time of 3.5 seconds, it is the fastest-accelerating Kia production car yet.

Other EV6 variants also use a 77.4kWh battery, but are equipped with less powerful motors or use a single electric motor.

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While the much-anticipated EV6 GT is set to be popular for the brand, and the model has had other recent wins such as the awarding of a five-star ANCAP safety rating, stock issues remain an issue.

“The problem at the moment is that getting, say 2000, EV6s into the country is just an impossibility. Based on our monthly arrivals it's looking like about 600 this year, but it’s far from enough of what is required to meet demand,” Meredith told Wheels this week.

“Winning Wheels Car of the Year (COTY) speaks volumes about what it has done, and will do, for the brand – although you can’t dismiss the strength of the new Sportage and what that has done with its own awards, and the Carnival as well.

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“We’ve worked really hard and seen a massive change in how we communicate the message of our brand in a relatively short period of time. We’re proud of what EV6 has achieved, but you’re only as good as your last kick and we have to keep on going.

“I was driving out of my driveway the other day and a bloke in a CX-5 stopped me and talked to me about the EV6 I’m currently driving for five minutes, and he said ‘I’m waiting for the fast one’. That’s the sort of impact it has had, 10 years ago I wasn’t being stopped driving my Optima around – something has changed.”