Bored with boring SUVs? Try Kia’s new V4 Fastback

The lazy line that ‘trendy automobiles all look the identical’ trotted out by in any other case clever individuals is straightforward to rebuff by juxtaposing a picture of any two-seater sportscar alongside a pickup truck. However it’s nonetheless honest to say there’s a considerably tedious center floor to many world car markets in 2026 populated by largely nameless small-to-medium Sports activities Utility Automobiles (SUVs) or crossovers that may very well be extra energy-efficient and the place important distinction is difficult to discern.

Hoping to shake up that house – albeit in a small manner – enters Kia’s EV4 Fastback. ‘Many corporations are so targeted on SUVs that it could grow to be a cul-de-sac,’ says Kia’s world head of design Karim Habib. ‘There are other ways of doing mobility, and it’s our job to suggest them.

‘What’s fascinating is that these EV architectures have a sure flexibility in them that enables us to do these items,’ he continues. ‘The EV4 Fastback was a part of the considering that there must be, as we transfer to a brand new period, autos that symbolise it. A sporty automobile doesn’t have to be a protracted hood two-seater solely. It may be various things.’

Habib is referring to the packaging prospects of standalone EVs once they don’t need to optionally accommodate petrol or hybrid powertrains as effectively. Consequently, such EVs don’t require a protracted bonnet to accommodate an inner combustion engine or a lumpy transmission tunnel down the center of the cabin – which permits for a flat ground inside.

What full-electric long-range EVs do want although is house for giant batteries, and a standard spot to put them is low down between the 2 axles, so shifting these axles additional aside permits such battery room whereas additionally creating extra space for entrance and rear passengers.

Given these prospects Habib’s design staff suggest the EV4 Fastback – an elongated sedan-cum-fastback electrical car – which made manufacturing in late 2025 staying refreshingly near the impressively uncommon EV4 Idea first proven at Kia’s annual EV Day in October 2023. Current and proper are equally lengthy (4.73 m, low (1.48 m) and broad (1.86 m) proportions from the idea that additionally assist create a big 490-litre boot house.

These dimensions mark the EV4 Fastback aside from different current manufacturing coupé crossover EVs too – for instance the upper and shorter Citroën ë-C4 X – though each fashions share a traditional boot lid opening and stuck tonneau cowl part.

The EV4 Fastback’s exterior design sticks with Kia’s signature EV ‘closed mouth’ higher entrance face with slim headlights that outline the wheel arches. These arches additionally characteristic graphically daring gloss black accents round them which hook up with the facet sills earlier than rising once more to satisfy the boot lid’s lip. The Fastback additionally provides twin truncated black rearward roof extensions, underneath which the rear windscreen tucks in.

Inside, the EV4 Fastback is equally elegant – if not fairly so unique. Sharing design options with many different trendy Kia EVs it nonetheless provides an ethereal cabin with a comparatively low dashboard and broad and horizontal mixed centre touchscreen and driver show perched atop. The UX software program might do with some finessing, however a star-marked steering wheel shortcut button to minimise too many security alerts and easy Apple CarPlay mirroring make it shortly purposeful and extra acceptable.

Snug and good narrow-rib, synthetic leather-based entrance seats are topped off with uncommon entrance headrests that includes a see-through mesh that are each pleasant to relaxation in opposition to whereas additionally making a lighter-feeling cabin. Rear passenger house can be good for outboard occupants with helpful headroom carved out of the ceiling, however the fifth rear center seat, the place the ceiling dips decrease, is just for shorter folks.

To drive, the EV4 Fastback is straightforward work. All variations are front-wheel drive, 204 hp single motor fashions offering easy if unspectacular acceleration (7.9secs 0-62mph), with gently weighted steering and well-damped suspension largely masking street imperfections, regardless of the 19-inch alloys on this check automobile. Its 81.4 kWh battery pack provides a wonderful 380 miles of vary, with its aerodynamic decrease roof and longer tail serving to. Certainly, the EV4 Fastback is Kia’s most aerodynamic EV ever, recording a 0.23 Cd.

If this standout design looks like an excessive amount of of a bounce, Kia additionally provides a shorter EV4 Hatchback from £33,245, with a extra accessible, if smaller, 435-litre boot. It’s a superb electrical replace of the household hatch form pioneered by the VW Golf, however when you actually need to keep away from driving down the over-populated SUV cul-de-sac, the EV4 Fastback is definitely the extra attention-grabbing lane to analyze.