Three-fifths of Kia EV9 pre-order customers are new to Kia

About 60 percent of reservations for the EV9, Kia Corp.'s large electric SUV, are first-time buyers for the brand.

"Sixty percent of the individual customers who pre-ordered were people who had never bought a Kia before," said Yoon Yong-ki Yoon, Kia's head of domestic marketing team 2.

Kia began pre-orders for the EV9 on May 3 and said it received 10,367 pre-orders within eight days.

"Typically, as you move up in a car's class, brand loyalty increases, so when you move up to a large car like the K9, the influx of new buyers is 40% or less," said Yoon. "In comparison, about 60% of EV9 pre-contractors are new customers, which means we've found a new segment of demand that didn't exist before."

Kia hopes that the EV9 will set the tone for the future of Kia's electric vehicles. The EV9 features a number of firsts and new technologies.

The EV9 is the first large electric sports utility vehicle with a third row in South Korea. Using E-GMP, Hyundai Motor Group's exclusive electric vehicle platform, the EV9 has a longer and flatter wheelbase than the Palisade and the large RV Carnival, allowing for better utilization of interior space. In addition, the Ergo Motion Seat, an advanced specification only available on the Genesis, was applied to the EV9, and the second row of relaxation seats was applied for the first time.

"Our target sales volume this year is about 50,000 units globally, including export shipments, and we plan to divide the volume by region, such as Korea, Europe and North America, depending on whether global certification or EV subsidies are available," said a Kia official.

Write to Soo-Jin Choi at naive@hankyung.com