David Ruddock is the Europe Editor at Electrek.
David is a lifelong automotive enthusiast who has followed the car industry since he was a teenager. Before joining Electrek, David was a mobile technology journalist for over a decade at Android Police, where he started as a writer and went on to serve as Editor-in-Chief. He later accepted a side quest in the world of startup marketing, heading up content and product marketing initiatives at two SaaS companies.
David’s passion for cars was born in Hot Wheels, NASCAR, the local quarter-mile dirt track, and “The Encyclopedia of the Car” — a 1998 coffee table book with thousands of car photos he’d gawk at for hours as a 10-year-old.
David’s interest in electrification comes out of the same passion that ignited his enthusiasm for all things wheeled (or tracked!) as a child: A genuine fascination with the ways human beings get around. He believes strongly in the electric future of personal and mass transportation, and that we have reached an inflection point with BEVs in particular.
While the FT-Se concept won’t be fully revealed for another week or two, it’s hard not to be excited about what’s coming. The Gazoo Racing (GR)-badged concept car seems to have some serious Supra design DNA based on two early shots Toyota has shared. Spoilers (well, spoiler) ahead.
Expand Expanding Close
The Toyota FT-3e looks to be the first “ground up” electric SUV concept from the infamously EV-hesitant automaker, and we’re getting a very limited look at it based on some early Japan Mobility Show teasers today. No technical or performance information is being published at this time.
Expand Expanding Close
This week, Kia unveiled a tranche of new EV concept cars, and the common element among them that stood out to me? These cars have some really weird wheels. And I mean that in a good way!
Expand Expanding Close
There’s no denying that Kia is on a roll with its EV design language. The spaceship-sleek EV6 still turns heads, and the upcoming EV9 and EV5 SUVs feel like a breath of fresh, boxy air on the staid sport-utility formula. Now Kia has a new EV concept, the EV4 sedan – and it’s certainly unlike anything else on the road.
Expand Expanding Close
I won’t lie: We don’t know a lot about the Kia EV3 Concept from a technical perspective. Like, basically anything. We don’t have battery capacity, range, power output, or even dimensions. It’s a compact crossover based on the E-GMP platform that slots in roughly where the Kia Seltos does at the moment, which should give you a sense of what kind of size class we’re talking about here. Kia announced the EV3 Concept at its EV Day event in Korea.
Expand Expanding Close
The Kia EV5 was first announced in concept form last month. Today, Kia is releasing more details on the production version at its EV Day event in Korea. Nearly everything on paper about the car sounds great: a boxy, mid-sized electric SUV designed to comfortably seat five with 330 miles of range and attractive pricing. The EV5 will start around $35,000 for the basic FWD model and go up to $50,000 in the top-tier long range AWD trim. That pricing appears to be a global estimate from Kia’s CEO, according to InsideEVs, who attended the launch — so don’t take this as an indicator of US pricing. Unfortunately, Kia is signaling that the Inflation Reduction Act means the car may never come to the US at all (more on that later).
Expand Expanding Close
BMW unveiled the all-new iX2 xDrive30 today, an EV that shares its platform with the second-generation X2. It’s promising 259-279 miles of WLTP range on a 64.8kWh battery, a 5.6-second 0-100km/h (62 mph) time, and 313 hp / 364 lb-ft of total system output from the AWD motors. Both the car and the battery will be manufactured in Regensburg, Germany. A global launch is set to begin in March 2024, though the compact EV crossover will not be coming to the US. BMW announced that the iX2 was coming earlier this year.
Expand Expanding Close