The 2026 Kia EV4 GT-Line Is A Distinctively Styled Electric Sedan For The Masses
In the world of more affordable premium electric sedans, it’s pretty hard to beat the Tesla Model 3. That name play has been around since 2017, and globally, it has been the bestselling EV all around the world. Now, when you’re a top seller, manufacturers are going to constantly be coming after you. So, for 2026, Kia is looking to finally enter the space with their own premium electric sedan called the Kia EV4. As you can see, this is a new model. This is designed to slot below its three current offerings, the EV6, the EV9, and of course, the Nero EV. And with up to 330 miles of all-electric range, this is now offering the best range of any electric Kia to date. So, today we’re actually here at a studio in Detroit, Michigan, taking a closer look at the allnew Kia EV4. Now that we’re doing so, let’s go ahead and take a detailed first look. [Music] Now, before we start talking about the very bold styling of this allnew Kia EV4, I thought I’d pop the hood and show you guys if this vehicle has a front trunk storage space, cuz that’s always a big question for people looking at an EV since there’s no gas engine. As you can see underneath here, unlike the EV uh 6 or EV9, there is no front trunk storage space, even though this vehicle is built on their latest EGMP architecture. The other interesting twist about the EV4 is this is actually running on the 400vt architecture as opposed to the higher output 800vt system which does bring the price down. But here in America and globally, Kia is only going to offer the EV4 with just one powertrain option. It’s got a single electric motor on the front axle, meaning this vehicle is frontwheel drive. Kia says it the output is 150 kW or about 201 horsepower and 209 pound- feet of torque. The fact that this vehicle only offers front-wheel drive and around 200 horsepower is going to help to keep the price down. It all goes out through a single speed reduction gear transmission, of course. And Kia didn’t quote any performance figures, but they did say that here in America, they’re going to offer two different battery sizes. So, either a 58 kWh battery pack or an 81 kWh battery pack. This GT line that we’re showing you here has the bigger 81 kWh battery pack. And with the larger 19-in wheels, Kia says this small should be able to do around 300 mi of all electric range. 235 mi if you guys go for the base light trim with the smaller 58 kWh battery pack. Now, of course, the company doesn’t have any detailed specs for us. So, I don’t know what the top or what the 0 to 60 time is, but they did say the top speed was around 105 mph. They also didn’t mention towing or the curb weight, but I would estimate because this is again an all-electric vehicle, depending on the battery size, it’s probably going to weigh in around 4,500 lb. That’s just my estimate estimate based on other uh vehicles that ride on the EGMP uh architecture. But let’s go ahead and close up the hood here which as you can see is held up by a prop rod and talk about the exterior styling. Now, first of all, this color is a new color for 2000 or a new color on the EV4 in general. It’s called shale gray and it certainly is very trendy. It kind of has that ceramic or it’s like a variation of the wolf gray or the ceramic silver they’ve offered in the past. And the styling of the EV4 is definitely very bold. Now, first of all, Kia is going to offer it in the base light, the mid-level wind trim, or this GT line that I’m showing you, which is going to be the more aggressive uh design or aggressive looking trim. You can see it’s got lots of gloss black accents. It’s got a unique front bumper with more uh a gloss black accents with some functional openings, which I believe those also include some active grill shutters. The headlights on this model, of course, it has the family resemblance to other models like the EV9 and EV6. It’s got the small cube style projector LEDs. These are unique, I believe, to the GT line. You also have an LED daytime running light with a vertical stack design. I’m surprised it’s not an amber illumination like some other Kia models, but it certainly looks good with the gloss black with the shale gray with the integrated parking sensors. You also have a front camera system with the 360 camera with the Kia logo. In fact, the front end of this vehicle, you can see has their new tiger face design language, which is a variation of their tiger nose design language. And you can see here there’s a lot of elements here like the closed off grill openings, which basically allow for a 0.23 23 coefficient of of drag. It’s actually the most aerodynamic vehicle or EV in Kia’s lineup, and that’s going to help again allow the wind to slip past to get the best electric only range up to 330 mi, like I mentioned. Uh, and I also appreciate the shorter front overhang for this vehicle. There’s also a lot of creases and bulges in the hood. It certainly gives the front end a very unique unique look. Let me know what you guys think of the styling in the comment section below. Remember, Kia is all about their opposites united design philosophy, and it certainly works well, at least for me, at the front of the vehicle. Now, moving around the side profile, think this is where things get pretty weird because this is definitely a sedan in its profile, but at the same time, it looks a little bit odd from certain angles, and that’s because Kia actually offers this as a hatchback in other markets, but sadly here in America, the hatchback isn’t coming. The hatchback is actually around 11 in shorter. I think that’s where the hatchback is going to look a lot better. We’ll try to put a picture of the hatchback uh in the video so you can see the differences. The rear overhang of this car is ungainainely for my for my eyes and that’s because this is a relatively long vehicle at 186 in in the overall length with a 111in long wheelbase. This is about the same size as a Tesla Model 3 which is what Kia was basically going after uh for the competitive set. But let me know in the comments section below what you guys think of the side profile. It certainly is very different. Kind of goes with their opposites united. I’m just not entirely sure those opposites are united very well at the rear, but that’s my personal preference here. here. Now, looking at the wheels, Kia is going to offer a choice between a 17 or this 19in wheel that you get on the GT line. Uh, it’s riding on a 215x 50 R19 uh Nexon allseason tire. Now, these tires are kind of skinny, and that’s designed to again uh not have or to reduce the rolling resistance, and that’s because these wheels reduce the range by 30 mi. So, 300 mi on this model here, 330 if you guys go for the wind version with the 17in wheel. It certainly has an interesting triangular shape. I really didn’t like the wheel that we saw for the 17-inch wheel on the other trims. But this wheel certainly looks good with some of the gloss black that you see here that’s unique to the GT line. It kind of creates almost like a crossover look with the un or with the different colored fender flares or wheel arch trim. But let me know in the comments section below if you guys like the look. You can see this door right here houses the NACS port. So this is really a game changer. A lot of other new Kia EVs are including that. This vehicle because it runs on the 400vt architecture, it is a little bit slower to charge, but Kia says if you are on a level three charger here, like a Tesla supercharger, you can go from 10 to 80% in about 30 minutes. So, it’s around 12 minutes longer than something like the EV6. So, 30 minutes is still very competitive, even though it’s not as fast, but again, it’s going to help to reduce the price. And like I said earlier, uh 300 mi of range is possible on this model, 235 if you guys go for the smaller battery pack. Now, with the GT Line trim, you also have these gloss black mirrors, which are powerfolding, integrated turn signals, and 360 cameras throughout. You also have this kind of blacked out A-pillar here, which kind of creates like a floating roof design effect to it. And then you can see the ultra wide sunroof there is also included on this trim, which is nice and just letting a little bit more a little bit more air or light into the cabin as well and kind of creating almost like a black look effect to the roof line. You can see these door handles are the power retractable kind. Uh it is included if you guys go for the wind and up trims. The light trim will have this door handle, but it’s a manual. You’ll have to push it in here versus the auto retracting kind, which definitely kind of goes with the more aerodynamic theme a lot of a lot of EVs. And this area right here to me is just awkward because where the front has a short front overhang, the rear has a lot of overhang at the back here. So, I this is where I kind of think Kia should have extended the wheelbase or chopped off a little bit at the back. And that’s where the hatchback model, remember, like I said earlier, is around 11 inches shorter than the sedan. So that’s where I think Kia kind of designed this look to be kind of like a hatch first because the sedan’s profiles are different. Now Kia says the sedan has the better coefficient of drag. So this is technically the more the more aerodynamic body style. So that’s why Kia decided to offer the sedan only here in America. You can see the rear design is also very very interesting. In fact, there are some functional elements here like the spoilers that you see at the top that helps to uh again improve the aerodynamics. this rear window. You can see uh there’s no wiper back here, but there’s also this kind of gloss black area here that almost looks like a continuation of the rear window. And then the rear deck lid here, very, very interesting. Of course, the tail lights are almost pushed out to the corners, which is fine, but at the same time, you have this big gray piece here for the trunk lid, which to me makes the vehicle look a little too disproportionate. But again, that’s my personal preference for design. Styling is always in the eye of the beholder. Let me know in the comments section below what you guys think. There’s the typical badging here with the new Kia logo, EV4 badge there, of course, along with the GT line badge there, which also includes a unique rear bumper design with the integrated uh uh parking sensors and more of the gloss blacks black accents. You can see the tail lights are full LED with LED turn signals and LED brake lights. And the reverse light you can see is down there. It’s an LED at the middle part of the uh rear bumper. And then you in terms of the cargo area, this is a traditional sedan. And while Kia didn’t talk about uh actual cargo figures just yet, you can see the opening is quite large. It’s a very wide opening. It’s also kind of low as well. Although the opening up here isn’t as big as a traditional uh sedan style uh trunk lid, but you can see here with the cargo space. You do have a fold flat or 60/40 fold flat rear seat area, which is kind of nice if you pull on that, which I’m not going to be able to open it, but it you can release it from back here. He again didn’t mention any cargo figures, but it looks big. I would probably estimate maybe 15 16 cubic feet of space. Again, the hatchback body body style would offer even more space, but for a traditional sedan, it definitely has a bigger trunk than I expected, and it kind of reminds me a little bit of the Lucid Air and the way that it opens and the shape of the actual trunk lid. Now, for how bold the new EV4 looks on the outside, Kia actually went with a much more traditional look on the interior. As you can see, this GT line that we’re showing you here has the very interesting color combination with the black and white sync. So, this is technically a vegan synthetic leather, but at the same time, the leather material actually feels like pretty high quality. You have perforations, of course, this kind of interesting uh perforation design where it almost has these like triangles in the actual perforation. These seats are also heated and ventilated with the GT line embossed and the actual seat back. I really like how Kia goes with the upper portion uh white. The lower portion here where this is tends it tends to get more dirty is actually black. Uh the driver’s seat is also a 12 a 12-way power adjustment which also includes a power retractable thigh extending cusher I believe or thigh extender as well. Uh and you also have a twoerson memory function. So these are features that you don’t typically find in the class of vehicle. Although at the same time it reminds me a lot of other vehicles from Kia, especially when you look at the rest of the dash design because as you can see here the dash also has that two-tone look along with the uh 30-in display here. So you have a mixture of three different displays which we’ll talk about in just a moment. But let me go ahead and hop inside and show you guys the rest of the cabin. Now again, it’s a sedan, so it has that typical low step-in height. As I shut the door, the door has a pretty solid sounding thunk. Remember, this is built on the uh EGMP architecture. Now, looking at the door panels, you can see the upper door panel actually has a pretty nice uh soft touch injection molded plastic with a really uh interesting textured grain to it. You can see there’s a gray painted plastic door handle here. You’ve got your buttons here for your two-level heated steering wheel, your heated and cooled seats along with your twoerson memory. I also love the ambient lighting in here. This is the only trim that gets the upgraded ambient lighting with I believe has 64 different colors. Uh there’s a nice padded area here. Window controls, they are onetouch uh for the front windows, but the rears are not onetouch power mro or power windows obviously. And then the steering wheel. This is pretty much the same steering wheel we’ve seen from other new Kia with its two-tone design. It has a really nice like flat bottom and flat top design. So it’s almost like a squirle. Uh you have these paddles on the wheel to control the regen braking. Uh this vehicle basically allows for their eye paddle assist which is their form of regen braking. It’s now in its third generation. The wheel itself offers manual tilt telescoping which offers a lot of adjustability so you can easily get a comfortable driving position which is nice. Uh the leather on the wheel also feels pretty high quality. What I don’t like however which bothers my OCD is the Kia logo which is offset. I would have preferred it to be right in the middle but let me know in the comment section below if that would bother you. Uh, in terms of the dashboard material, you can see the material from the door panel carries over here on the dash where this is a slightly padded soft touch injection molded plastic. No heads-up display as you can see, but down this area here, you can see it’s the same material, but a lighter gray, more of that beautiful ambient lighting, which you can change the color. And then this particular trim also has their upgraded 8- speakeraker Harmon Cardon stereo, which it’s an EV. If you guys are an audio file, I highly recommend taking the option for that. Now, looking at the infotainment display, if you guys have seen our review on the new Kia K4, this looks pretty similar. Or you can see you have a 12.3 in center display which houses their new CNC CNCC software which includes wireless Apple CarPlay Android Auto. My phone is connected. The screen is quick, snappy, and responsive. When you go back to the native system, you can see this is also their upgraded software. All EV4s come standard of course with Google builtin. And you also have embedded GPS which the GPS also will do automatic route planning. If you guys are driving this vehicle on a longer road trip, it’ll tell you for how long you need to stop, where the chargers are, for example, how many charges are available, which is all pretty much what you expect from an electric vehicle. You have a 5-in display here that uh is for the climate functions. And then over here, you have a 12.3 in display for the instrument panel, which again, um the display looks really nice. This is very modern. It’s very clean, but it’s also not overwhelming like you like you might find from some of its competitors. Now over here you can see there are some actual buttons here which are more touch sensitive with haptic feedback which are only visible when the screen is actually on. I also like the uh volume knob here along with traditional air vents where they’re not those motorized vents. And then Kia also gives you a nice combination of actual buttons if you want to increase the climate control functionality. You can see uh this right here offers dual zone climate control which is nice. It’s controlled via this little 5-in screen over here. Now down here you can see big open center console area. Some um models you may have seen in Korea offer like a foldout table that’s not offered here in the US as you can see where they wanted to give you more of an open space. You have two USBC charging ports here along with a traditional 12volt power outlet. You can see my iPhone 16 Pro Max fits perfectly there. These cup holders you can see you can make the actual cup holder go away to increase the size of this or push that button. You can see that brings the cup holders back. Additional storage here with the intricate ambient lighting. And then over here you can see push that button it brings up the full 360 camera that’s on this trim. Kia actually offers one of the best cameras in the industry as well. Very German or very European-like with the uh quality of the resolution and how you can choose from so many different views and do a 360 perimeter scan. So, that looks pretty nice like that. And then you can see here there’s a little bit more storage over here. Nice padded center console. And if I open this up, you can see uh additional center console area where you can take this out to kind of increase the size or length of that, although it’s not very deep. And then here’s the key fob for the vehicle. You can see it has Kia’s latest detonator style key with an interesting white texture to it. There are buttons off to the side. So, you can see there’s a lock button here, unlock, you can also pop open the trunk and then panic. And on the other side here, you can see this vehicle does offer their smart park feature where you can move the vehicle forward and back from the key fob along with the remote start obviously. And then uh Kia does offer the dig digital key too. So, if you’re an owner of the car, you can um start the vehicle and access it uh with just your cell phone as a key, which is a nice feature. Now, looking at the seats, like I mentioned earlier, they are pretty comfortable and supportive. I believe they’re unique to the GT line. They have a little bit more aggressive bolstering. Again, this passenger seat is also a 10-way power adjustment. So, that’s a really nice feature to find. Typically, the passenger gets shafted. So, even though this is their cheapest EV, it still has some really great features along with really good visibility as well. The hood is nice and low because the uh front overhang is so low as well. And then above me, you can see there’s like a woven material for the headliner. That sunroof, as you can see, is also it opens up to vent air, which is not something you find in a lot of EVs. Most EVs give you a panoramic glass roof, but you can’t actually open it. So, Kia is one of the few that allows that. There’s also a retractable shade if you guys don’t want the sun on you. So, overall, the interior is very familiar, of course, to the new Kia K4. The vehicle is about the same size as the K4, but it looks like Kia has given this car a little bit more or nicer materials, and it also has even better visibility, uh, and these really comfortable, plush seats, which is also a plus. But, let’s go ahead and hop into the back seat area. I can show you guys that space because this vehicle with its extremely long wheelbase offers a really spacious back seat as well. Now, Kia didn’t mention the leg room figures back here, but as you can see, this is pretty much my driving position at 5’7. I would probably estimate maybe 37 38 in of legroom. There’s a completely flat floor here, which, you know, shows that this is a dedicated EV architecture. You also have rear seat air vents here. uh additional storage over here and then two USBC charging ports in the actual seat back along with these two storage cubbies which is nice. The door panel materials are actually the same soft touch materials back here as the front seat area. So they didn’t skimp there. They did however skimp on the ambient lighting. I would have liked to see that ambient light strip here, but at least it’s nice and padded over here with more of that gray painted plastic. Additional storage in the actual lower portion here. Uh which is nice. And then if you’re also noticing the seat bottom cushion has a really steep uh almost like recline to it. It actually provides really good thigh support for somebody my height. The seats themselves, they also feel like pretty high quality synthetic leather. Of course, the upper portion here has that white color. Fold this down. You can see there’s an armrest with two cup holders. And then with the adjustable headrest, you can see the carveout here allows for a decent amount of headroom space. I probably have like another inch and a half, maybe 2 in. Um, so at 5’7, the headroom space is a little bit tight, but the leg room space, as you can see, is definitely on the higher end if you guys are looking in the premium electric sedan space. So, as a brand, Kia has actually been playing in the all-electric space since 2014. So, almost 12 years, which is actually a pretty long amount of time, and it really shows that Kia has been learning a lot from their experience in the EV space. So, after finally seeing the allnew Kia EV4 in the sheet metal, remember this is the brand’s first all-electric sedan. It’s also their longest range electric vehicle that they offer here in America with up to 330 mi of range. The design of this car is certainly very subjective. Obviously, this GT line is going to be the most aggressive. I haven’t had a chance to see the wind or the light trim level yet in person, although this is probably the one that I think most enthusiasts or buyers looking in this particular class are going to like because Kia is essentially targeting a younger de demographic for this vehicle. They’re also saying it’s going to be more of a mainstream EV. Now, this is the part where I wish I could tell you about pricing of this car. Kia is still being very tight-lipped about the pricing because you won’t be able to pick up an EV4 in the states until the early part of 2026. So, of course, that leaves us with speculation on the pricing because right now, if you’re looking to buy an electric Kia in the US, the cheapest model is the Nero EV that offers up to 253 mi of range. It starts at around $39,600. The cheapest EV6 is around $43,000, but you can get up to like over 330ish miles of or I’m sorry, over 310 mi of range for that model. Now, the Hyundai IonX 6, which again also rides on the EGMP architecture, starts at $37,600, although it technically has less power and a little bit less range versus this model. Although, this model again is very different versus the IonX 6 because it’s front-wheel drive. It runs on the 400vt architecture. So really, if Kia wants to get this car right, they really need to price this car under the Nero. And of course, I tried asking if they would, you know, mention if this car would be cheaper than the Nero, they won’t they won’t talk about that now, but if they could get the pricing around $35,000 and go to maybe $45,000 for this model here, that certainly is going to give the Tesla Model 3, for example, a run for its money. Because what Kia is offering here is a vehicle that’s going to offer a comfortable ride. It’s going to offer a spacious interior. It’s going to offer all the tech that you could want. And even though the charging isn’t as fast as some of the other electric vehicles in their lineup, it’s still going to be fast enough to keep up with most of its competitors. And again, 330 mi of range or 300 on this model is going to be plenty for those of you, you know, who are looking for a commuter car that doesn’t necessarily break the bank as much as some of their other electric vehicles. But overall, let me know what you guys think in the comments section below. Kia certainly offers a very bold choice here if you guys are looking for an all-electric sedan. and I’m looking forward to seeing what the final pricing is going to be as we get closer to that on sale date. With all that said, hope you guys have enjoyed my very detailed overview here on the allnew 2026 Kia EV4. If you’re also looking to see the latest cars I’m testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline_views. Like us on Facebook, and as always guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I’ll catch you all in the next video. [Music]
The first-ever electric #Kia sedan arrives in America early next year as the 2026 #KiaEV4. Built on the same excellent E-GMP platform, this more affordable #EV4 will offer up to 330 miles of range along with having access to #Tesla superchargers thanks to a standard NACS plug. The #EV4GTLine shown here will be the more sporty styled version and Kia expects this model to be their least expensive EV when it goes on sale next year.
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