Who would have thought lower than two weeks after taking a late take a look at the 2023 Toyota Kayoibako electrical mini-camper van idea, Kia would launch an lovable mini-camper of its personal? However right here she is, the Kia PV5 WKNDR. And dare are we are saying, this “Swiss Military knife on wheels” is even cuter than Toyota’s idea, and extra modular besides. The adventurous tiny RV can be constructed on an precise production-bound electrical transporter, so it may even come to fruition.
Kia kicked off this 12 months by previewing its deliberate Platform Past Car (PBV) household of vans and transporters at CES 2024. The PBV is Kia’s tackle the subsequent technology of modular, multipurpose business EVs designed for nearly limitless flexibility. One automobile may carry out a large number of capabilities – supply van, refuse truck, cell storefront, passenger shuttle and extra.
Kia
The thought is similar to the aforementioned Kayoibako idea, however Kia goes one step additional than Toyota. As a substitute of customizable interiors, the PBV ecosystem will depend on a break up automobile structure with a hard and fast motor cab and interchangeable utility pods. We are saying “will” as a result of the PBV line is not merely a visionary idea for a future we could by no means expertise, the best way the Kayobaiko is, however a product household Kia plans to launch inside the subsequent 12 months or two.
The thought of swapping pods sounds a lot cleaner and extra user-friendly than Toyota’s imaginative and prescient of outfitting interiors with wide-ranging suites of task-compatible gear and furnishings, significantly in a business setting with an automatic pod-lifting system. Drive to work in your five-passenger electrical minivan; again it up into the storage; drop on the pod it’s good to full your first agenda merchandise; swap pods as wanted all through the day for various duties; then put your five-seat minivan again on, clock out and head dwelling.
“Behind a hard and fast cab, or ‘driver zone’, quite a lot of interchangeable higher our bodies, or ‘life modules’, might be related to the bottom automobile by way of a hybrid electromagnetic and mechanical coupling know-how, turning the PBV right into a taxi in the course of the day, a supply van at evening, and a private leisure automobile on weekends,” Kia defined in its CES announcement again in January.
The truth is, Kia even rendered how the system may go from workaday plumbing van to weekend camper van in a video launched on the debut:
Dwelling: PBV Conversion | CES 2024 | Kia
Pushing previous renderings, Kia marks its return to SEMA this 12 months by having some enjoyable with the primary member of the PBV sequence, the 185-in (470-cm) PV5. The PV5 is deliberate because the debut manufacturing automobile for the sequence and, at the least initially, will work as a kind of midlevel Goldilocks, sitting between the pint-sized PV1 transporter and the bigger PV7 van.
The brand new idea is known as the PV5 WKNDR, and it takes the thought of each the non-public leisure automobile and the weekend fairly rattling significantly. No soccer follow drop-offs or easy picnics within the park deliberate for this modular leisure rig, its weekends are reserved for pure lost-in-the-woods thrill-hunting. The idea is jacked up on a raised suspension and outsized off-road tires barely contained by flared arches. It wears its off-road mild bar, facet awning and bright-yellow tow hooks proudly.
Kia
Kia calls the WKNDR the “preferrred escape pod for prolonged weekends in nature” and slaps on a pop-up roof for in a single day stays. It is designed as a two-person rig and includes a small eating space in again with a central desk, drop-down bench seat and reversed passenger seat. An overhead cargo web and Hymer-style wall paneling slots assist maintain the small area organized, accessorized and versatile.
Between its pleasant mini-camper sizing, properly outfitted inside, off-road package and podularity, it is arduous to choose a favourite a part of the WKNDR idea. However, the “first-of-its-kind storage answer” Kia calls the Gear Head is a selection price contemplating. This pod-within-a-pod idea slides out of the driving force’s facet to function an outside gear closet, offering fast, quick access to key objects when the automobile is stationary. Presumably, you’d shut it at evening for safety and climate/insect-proofing.
Kia
With a fast pull, the Gear Head opens up extra inside area whereas protecting gear and instruments readily accessible outdoors the van. It’d even be helpful for packing earlier than the journey – slide it out at dwelling to simply load the cooler, tenting range, folding chairs, transportable yard video games and extra, strap all the things down, slide the entire thing again in, and get in your approach.
Moreover tenting gear, Kia notes the Gear Head could possibly be used as a meals pantry for outside cooking, a a lot greater, life-size model of the slide-out dry pantries outfitted to the kitchen areas of many camper vans.
Kia
Kia completes the WKNDR package deal with the tenting and life-style gear it believes will assure superior group and quick camp setup. A few of it hangs from the aforementioned wall slots inside, and a few, just like the backpack-style organizers on the decrease break up tailgate, hangs outdoors. An onboard air compressor is included for adjusting tire strain to off-road circumstances and airing up sleeping pads and different inflatable gear.
And simply to remind us it is a wacky SEMA idea, not a product preview, Kia provides in photo voltaic panels and “hydro turbine wheels” to maintain the batteries working by way of a number of cycles.
The SEMA-exhibited WKNDR idea itself actually will not be coming to market unchanged, however the thought of a camper pod that bridges the hole between pickup camper and camper van appears a pure match for a modular PV5 already being marketed as a “work automobile in the course of the week, leisure automobile on weekends.” The boxy module kind may additionally work properly for dropping at camp like a tiny cabin. If Kia does not make an identical PV5 (or PV7) camper occur, hopefully an formidable RV startup will.
Supply: Kia
