Kia's 1st Fully Electric Vehicle Sees Strong Demand in Europe

Kia's first fully electric vehicle, the EV6, has seen strong demand in Europe since its unveiling in March.

The automaker said Wednesday it has received over 7,600 pre-orders in major European countries including France, Germany, Spain and the U.K.

Kia set a goal of selling 17,000 units of the EV6 around the world this year with 10,000 of them in Europe. That means it has already achieved 70 percent of its European sales target in pre-orders alone. In Korea, pre-orders have exceeded 25,000 units.

Kia will begin delivering the EV6 in Korea and Europe in July. The standard and long-range models will be released first, and the high-performance GT model, which can travel longer distances, will be added to the lineup in the second half of next year.

The EV6's 800-volt ultrafast charging allows the car's battery to be replenished to 80 percent of its total capacity in just 18 minutes.

The long-range model comes with a high-capacity battery and can travel around 510 km on a full charge in the European standard, compared to 395 km for the Renault Zoe. Kia hopes this will give the EV6 an edge over the Zoe, which was the best-selling electric vehicle in Europe last year with sales topping 100,000.