THE first of a new generation of electric vehicles from Kia will be on the road by October and will be priced from just over £40,000.

The Kia EV6 is the first model to be based on the Korean company's new platform for battery electric vehicles and will have a range of up to 316 miles on a full charge.

Kia says charging to 80 per cent capacity will take only 18 minutes and 80 miles of range can be added in less than four-and-a-half minutes.

The crossover styled car - slightly longer than a Ford Focus at 4.68 metres - will also be available in a high performance GT guise which will have Porsche Taycan like credentials of 0 to 62 acceleration in 3.5 seconds and a top speed of more than 160mph.

Prices start from £40,895 for the baseline EV6, £43,895 for EV6 GT-line and £58,295 for high-powered EV6 GT.

The EV6 is the first of 11 new BEV models Kia will be producing by 2026 - seven built on E-GMP architecture, and four derivative EVs based on existing models. - and forms the first part of Kia's transition to the new era of electrification under the new brand slogan, ‘Movement that inspires'.

It also kicks off the company's mid-to-long term strategy for BEVs, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and hybrid electric (HEV) vehicles to make up 40 per cent of Kia's total sales by 2030, with an annual sales target of 1.6 million units for these eco-friendly models.

As part of this, Kia aims to grow its BEV sales to 880,000 units in 2030 and become a top global seller.

The EV6 will be fitted with an Advanced Driver Assistance System which includes Highway Driving Assist 2 and Kia's Remote Smart Parking Assist.

It will be available both in rear and four-wheel-drive formats and interior space is said to be of SUV proportions with luggage capacity ranging from 520 to 1,300 litres.

There is also a front storage area which provides up to an additional 52 litres of stowage space for 2WD models and 20 litres for AWD versions.

Two powertrain configurations will be offered with long and standard range set ups.

With a maximum 605Nm torque available on the AWD version, the EV6 can accelerate from 0-to-62mph in 5.2 seconds.

The larger 77.4kWh battery pack is paired with a 229ps electric motor powering the rear wheels, and for AWD models two electric motors, powering the front and rear axles, produce a total of 325ps.

The 58.0kWh EV6 has a 0 to 62mph acceleration of 6.2 seconds, with a maximum 605Nm torque available on the AWD version.

The 58.0kWh battery pack is paired with a 125kW electric motor powering the rear wheels while AWD models feature two electric motors, powering the front and rear axles and producing a combined 235ps.

UK deliveries of the new Kia EV6 will commence from October 2021 with the EV6 GT to follow in 2022.