Kia Electric News Episode #141 21st December 2025
Hello and welcome to another episode of Kira Electric News, your weekly roundup of EV news from Kia, Hyundai, and Genesis. This is the last Kia Electric news of the year. The next episode will be Sunday the 4th of January. I’ll still be releasing a few episodes over the Christmas and New Year period though, which have been pre-recorded. In case you missed them this week, I did two videos. The first was about the changes to the EU maps and infotainment download sites for Kia, Hyundai, and Genesis, and how to find your way around them. It actually turns out that the changes improve things quite a lot, so you can see exactly what’s in an update for a particular head unit. The second episode was about the update to the new Kira app in the EU. This brought bug fixes and a new previously undocumented 3D mode on the control tab, but only for the Kia EV9 at the moment. Tom Warren, who gave me the heads up on the feature, has made this video of the feature. It lets you visually inspect the car in 3D for things like open charge doors and possibly other things. They’ve also changed the user interface quite a bit on the control tab. If the feature is available on your vehicle, then clicking on the top right hand cog of the control screen allows you to select between 2D and 3D versions. Hopefully, these new features are coming to all models very soon. Many thanks for sharing the video with me, Tom. I’ll start the week with some UK electric car grant news. On Thursday, Kia UK announced that two models were now eligible for the UK EV grant. They are the Kia EV4 Air, both battery sizes, and the PV5 passenger in essential and plus trims. This reduces the cost of the entry-level EV4 Air from 34,745 down to 33,245. The airrade also receives a further £1,000 finance deposit contribution in addition to the electric car grant bringing the price on finance to 32245 and the PV5 passenger entry level from 32,995 down to 31,495. Both the Kia EV4 and the PV5 both come with free 2year servicing at the moment. Also earlier this week, Kia UK announced its quarter 1 of 2026 special offers. This includes generous finance deposit contributions or FDC’s, including up to £3,000 towards all grades of EV3, EV4 GT line, and EV4 GT Line S. A, 1500 FTC is available towards the EV4 Fastback, EV5, EV6, EV6 GT, EV9, and EV9 GT. A £1,000 FDC is available for the EV4 Air. As previously mentioned, uh interest rate is 3.9% APR and finance office across all KIA fully electric vehicles. Kia also offers first two free services for all Kia fully electric models. Now, please note that the two-year service offer is only really up to the EV’s first service with the first year being an inspection. The second year is the actual service. The EV finance upgrade offers continues helping existing Kia customers get into a new Kia EV with an extra £1,000 loyalty incentive. Kia quarter 1 2026 offers are available from Wednesday the 17th of December 25 through to Tuesday the 31st of March 26. During the week, Kia Europe released a couple of YouTube shorts to show off the release of the new Star Wars themes which go on CCNC based EV4s and EV5s at the moment. The first was a Star Wars Rebels theme, as in original Star Wars characters, not the animated version, and the second was a Star Wars Dark Side theme. Electric reports that Kia now offers the most affordable EV in Canada. The Kia EV4 sedan, or Fastback, as it’s known elsewhere, is to go on sale in Canada. Prices and trims as follows. EV4 Light standard range $38,995. EV4 Wind Long Range $42,995. EV4 Premium Long Range $45,495. EV4 GT line long range $48,495. EV4 GT line limited which is $51,95. This is for the single frontwheel drive model. The all-wheel drive full GT variant is also due to arrive later in the year. Korean car bloggers shown the latest Genesis GV90 spy photo provided by Heila TV which shows the GB90 without cladding for the very first time. You can also clearly see the massive 24-in wheels. Cars Guide Australia reports that Hyundai Nexo has been spied in Australia on the back of a car transporter. This spy shot is the latest in a series of steps highlighting the Alexio’s impending entry into the Australian market. Back in September of the year, it appeared in documents filed with the Australian regulator and was approved for sale, later spotted undergoing testing in Sydney. A month after this, Hyundai confirmed the Alexio would launch in Australia early next year. The Alexio is a product of Beijing Hyundai, which is a joint venture between Hyundai and China’s BIC Motor. It uses the same version of the group’s signature EGMP platform which also underpins the EV5. So it’s the cut down 400vt version. In other words, the Alexa comes in two variants which are a single motor two wheel drive producing 160 kW and an all-wheel drive dual motor variant producing 230 kW. It comes with an 88.1 kWh battery delivering over 500 km of range according to the WLTP testing cycle. Fingers crossed this can also make it to the rest of the world like the Kia EV5 did. Kira has launched a Netflix film collaboration, the Kia EV5, Wake Up Dead Man, a knives out mystery film. The campaign aligns the EV5 with the highly anticipated third installment of Ryan Johnson’s acclaimed Benoir Blanc murder mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives Out Mystery, blending intrigue and humor as Detective Benoir Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, unravels his most dangerous case yet. The teaser film connects with the official movie trailer, revealing the EV5 as a crime scene and introducing protagonist to build anticipation. The main film places the EV5 at the center of the Knives Out narrative, highlighting its unique features for an impossible crime story line. This week, Kia Korea released a new video explaining how to use the rear doors on the PV5 cargo. This is the transcribed version. The twin swing doors provide wider, more convenient access for loading cargo. Before opening the doors, make sure the vehicle is in park and the electronic parking brake is engaged. From outside the vehicle, unlock the doors and put the doors exterior lever to open the left door. Then pull the side lever on the inner edge of the right door to open the right door. From inside the vehicle, pull the inner lever to open the left door. Then pull the side lever to open the right door. By default, rear doors open 95°. When the doors are open, press the yellow locking levers on the doors to open them the full 180°. Close the doors in the reverse order. First, close the right door until locking lever engages, then the left door. To ensure safety, always open and close the tailgate doors in the correct order. It keeps on calling it a tailgating in the Korean translation. Hyundai Motor Group has named German executive Manfred Hara as R&D head. He was previous head of Genesis and performance and development tech unit and previously vice president Hara a German national led chassis electronics and software development at Audi, BMW and Porsche for approximately 25 years. During his tenure at Porsche from 2007 to 21, he oversaw the development of key models like the Cayenne and the Boxster as well as the Tyan, Porsche’s first electric vehicle. Before joining Hyundai in 2024, he also served as senior director at Apple leading the Apple car project. Since joining Hyundai, he’s overseen high performance vehicle development for Genesis and Hyundai’s endline. In some awards news, the Kia PV5 passenger and Hyundai Insta both won at the recent BBC Top Gear awards. The PV5 passenger won family car of the year. Top Gear says this, “It’s joyous to drive. The driving position is commanding, more like being at the helm of a ship than the wheel of a car. Ride and refinement are plush, and crucially, it’s got the feel-good factor we formed over in the VW ID bus.” The Hyundai Insta won Super Mini of the year. Top Gear said, “Well sorted little EV with decent range. It’s well thought through and with an excellent dose of character and fold flat seats work very well. Mighty thinking packed into a model package, a grown-up small car. And now for some recall and update news. In Australia, Kira Australia has released a fresh OTAA update for the Kia EV5. Details as follows. An important OTAA update for the braking control system will be available from the 15th of December 2025. This update is applicable to variants of model year 2025 EV5. This OTAA update provides the following improvement to your vehicle. Updated integrated electric booster IEB logic to improve diagnostic function. And this looks like a similar update to some of the other models that received like the EV3 and the EV9 and the EV6. Also this week, ionic guy did this post on his YouTube channel about the ionic 6 horn warranty extension tsb details as follows. TSB number is 25B-022H. Certain IonX 6 vehicles may have an inoperable horn that may be caused by water intrusion through the ventilation hole. Hyundai has extended the warranty coverage for the horn replacement to 10 years or 120,000 mi from the date of original retail delivery or date of first use, whichever occurs first, and is valid for original and subsequent owners. This bulletin provides instructions on replacement of the inoperative horn. Please note that any vehicles under 10 years are also covered by this TSB, even if the vehicle is within original warranty of 5 years. Applicable vehicles. Model year 2023 to 2025. Model is the INX 6 C EV. Production dates 14th of December 22 through to 12th of September 25. I would hope this is being extended to all IonX6 vehicles worldwide because it sounds like it uh would be. And finally, Kia Korea has put out this video on how to use highway driver assist on the Kia EV5. Whilst many of us already know how to use the system, others who are new to Hyundai Motor Group vehicles may find this video very clear and useful on how to use the system. Video is transcribed from Korean. Highway driving assist makes highway driving safer and more comfortable. Press the driving assist button on the supported rows to activate HDA. You can also press the same button on normal roads to activate smart cruise control. It will also activate automatically when entering the highway with smart cruise control and lane follow system enabled. Use the speed control switch to adjust your speed within the speed limit and adjust the distance to the vehicle ahead with the vehicle distance button. It helps maintain the set speed and distance whilst keeping you centered in the lane. If the vehicle ahead stops, your vehicle also stops as well. When the vehicle ahead starts moving, your vehicle automatically does too. After a certain period of time, you have to press the switch or use the accelerator pedal to resume driving. When a lane change is possible, the lane change assist icon turns green. When you activate your turn signal to change lanes, you can move into the new lane safely. A warning appears if you don’t hold the steering wheel for a certain period of time. And HDA deactivates automatically if your hands remain off the steering wheel. For safety, always be sure to hold the steering wheel while driving. That’s all for this week. and in fact for the year. I’d just like to wish you all a very merry Christmas if you celebrate it and a happy new year. As usual, links to all source stories and videos can be found in the show notes in the video description. Thanks for all the comments and likes and welcome new subscribers. Welcome new channel member Holly Tree. Big thanks to my channel members for your invaluable financial support. As usual, if you support this channel and become a channel member for just149 a month, you get advert free early access to my videos and also video exclusives like the one that’s an extra half an hour long version of my EV4 review which is in there at the moment. If you’re in the UK, you can also support this channel by using my Octopus and Electroverse referral codes which are in the video description. We can share £100 if you use my octopus code or £10 if you use my Electroverse code. You can also support this channel for free by clicking subscribe if you haven’t already. And if you really like the video, you can also sh show your appreciation by hitting the like button. Have a good one. Thanks for watching. Yeah. I wish you Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Kia Electric News Episode #141 21st December 2025
A weekly news roundup of EV stories from Kia,Hyundai & Genesis with added hints & tips
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Timecode
00:00 Titles
00:13 Intro
00:32 In case you missed my videos this week
00:35 Maps and Infotainment download site changes
00:49 Changes to new Kia App
00:57 New 3D Mode Demo
01:22 How to turn 3D feature on
01:35 Kia Gets some UK EV Car Grant action
02:23 Kia UK announces Q1 2026 offers
03:38 New Star Wars themes for EV4 & EV5
03:58 Kia EV4 Sedan comes to Canada at a keen price
04:46 KCB Genesis GV90 spied without camouflage
04:58 Hyundai Elexio spied again in Australia ahead of 2026 launch
06:06 Kia Netflix Knives Out Campaign
06:48 Kia Korea PV5 Cargo Tailgate How to video
08:18 Manfred Harrer promoted to Head of HMG R&D
09:06 Kia & Hyundai win at Top Gear awards
09:48 Recalls & updates
09:56 Australia EV5 IEB Update
10:26 US Ioniq 6 Horn warranty extension
11:34 Kia Korea EV5 HDA how to
13:29 Outro and thanks
14:37 Endscreen
14:44 Channel Member special thanks
Link’s to stories & videos:-
In case you missed them this week i did 2 videos.
Changes to HMG Map update sites in EU
New 3D view being rolled out in Kia App
Kia announces its first vehicles eligible for the UK Electric Car Grant
https://www.kiapressoffice.com/releases/1928
Kia launches new year offers to get excited about
https://www.kiapressoffice.com/releases/1926
Star wars themes rebels
Star wars themes Darkside
Kia EV4 Fastback/Sedan comes to Canada. Also Canadian pricing
Carscoops Kia EV4 Fastback GT Version spy shots
You Won’t Be Getting This New Kia Performance Sedan In America
Genesis GV90 Spotted Losing Camouflage Ahead of New Year Debut
Genesis GV90 Spotted Losing Camouflage Ahead of New Year Debut
Healer TV Genesis GV90 Video
Hyundai Elexio Spied
https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/eagerly-awaited-ev-spied-in-oz-100367
Kia EV5 Knives Put Mystery video and PR
https://www.kiapressoffice.com/releases/1922
Kia Korea PV5 Cargo Tailgate/Doors how to use
Macolm Harrer R&D appoinment
https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2025/12/11/ITQXIYGYRJGXZET4DHCRG4JDI4/
PV5 & Inster win ar BBC Top Gear Awards
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/2026-topgearcom-awards/very-best-cars-year-welcome-2026-topgearcom-awards
And now for some recall and update news.
Australian EV5 OTA Braking Control System OTA Update
https://www.kia.com/content/dam/kwcms/au/en/files/service/ota-update-notices/kia-ota-notification-15122025.pdf
Also this week IoniqGuy did this post about the US Ioniq 6 Horn Warranty Extension TSB.Details as follows TSB number is 25-BE-022H
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxT0iBRBlqYZUl5oSQmuyuEp_oVLGyVRbb?si=3jbZQaZMoAixFnQf
Kia Korea EV5 HDA
