Last year was a great one for Kia, who reached a significant milestone by achieving 10,000 annual sales in Ireland for the first time, which makes them the fifth best-selling car brand in Ireland right now and third in EV sales, behind Hyundai and VW.
Kia was launched in South Korea in 1944, and the company were selling cars in Europe during the nineties with their first models making their Irish debut in 2001. Reaching that significant sales figure gave the company a major boost coming up to Christmas and they have continued in January with good sales figures. A few weeks back I drove their EV4 and last week I was in the EV5.
The EV5 is Kia’s first mid-size SUV, but at the launch of the car in December, Kia’s Irish MD, Ronan Flood, and their Head of Marketing, Cathal Kealey, wanted to assure Irish customers that the EV5 is not an electric Sportage. Since Kia’s arrival in Ireland 25 years ago the Sportage has been one of their best sellers.
If 2025 was important year for Kia, then January 2026 was a big moment in the history of Irish motoring, with more electric than petrol cars sold for the first-time ever in what is traditionally the busiest registration month of the year.
Companies like Kia are helping the electric car market grow in Ireland by introducing an excellent range of electric cars. Last week I moved up a number and drove their impressive EV5, which fits into the family-focussed C-Segment SUV.
The EV5 is built on the same platform as the EV3 and EV4 and sharing much of the rest of Kia’s technology. The star-map headlight gives the EV5 a really classy look. It’s only when you look at the car when it’s parked with the lights on that you see how attractive those star-map lights really are. And the rear of the car is also very stylish.
Inside it’s very spacious, with plenty of places to hold mobile phones or notebooks between the driver and front passenger. The dash is well laid out and is dominated by three neat screens, a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and a similar sized infotainment screen plus a 5-inch climate screen.
The version I drove gave my back a massage and in the back seat there is plenty of head and leg room for three adults. Last week was really wet and I appreciated the rear wiper in the EV5, which is almost hidden away.
The boot space is decent at 566 litres and there is also a Frunk at the front to hold small items and your charge cables.
My test car became in a good old-style black which looked good, but there are six new colours available including a very attractive Magna Red.
Power is supplied by an 81.4kWh battery which is supposed to give you a range of approximately 500km, but in the weather we are having this winter, you would be happy with around 460km with a full charge. That was the range shown when I picked up the car last week with a full charge. Of course, with press cars, the range will always depend on the driving habits of the previous tester.
Kia are doing really well right now and Irish MD, Ronan Flood, says they are hoping to increase sales in the Hire-Drive section this year.
Prices start at €47,625 for the Earth 2 version and then it depends how much luxury you want. The Earth 3 starts at €49,800 and the cost of the top of the range GT Line version is €54,000. All car companies have different names for their various trims and Kia use the word Earth.
So, judging by those impressive January sales figures it looks like electric cars are here to stay. The EV5 is definitely not an electric version of the Kia Sportage, but it’s still very impressive.
