Kia’s electric crossover SUV is getting major improvements for 2025. The updated Kia EV6 has more range, a Tesla NACS charging port, sleek new styling, and fun new features. Watch the video below to see how the new virtual gear shift feature works.

Kia EV6 GT gains a virtual gear shift for 2025

After launching the EV6 nearly three years ago, Kia is already giving it a “significant refresh.” The 2025 EV6 was unveiled at the LA Auto Show last month with notable improvements.

One of the first things you will notice is the new front face. The refreshed EV6 follows Kia’s updated design theme, which is also seen on the larger EV9 and mass-market models like the EV3 and EV5. With sharper angles and smoother character lines, the new EV6 looks much more aggressive and sporty than the current model.

Inside, the EV6 features Kia’s new Connected Car Navigation Cockpit (ccNC) OS. The system includes a curved display with dual 12.3″ infotainment and driver cluster screens.

With a larger 84 kWh battery pack option, the new model is expected to have a range of 319 miles, up from 310 miles currently.

The top-spec GT trim now packs up to 641 hp (with GT Mode) and 568 lb-ft of torque. That’s even more than the 2024 EV6 GT (576 hp and 545 lb-ft torque), Kia’s “most powerful production vehicle ever,” with a 0 to 60 mph sprint in just 3.4 seconds.

Kia added new features to give its GT model that extra edge, including a new Virtual Gear Shift (VGS), like Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 N. The new tech simulates the feeling of shifting gears with visuals and sound.

A new video from HealerTV gives us a closer look at how it works in action. The feature can be activated through the settings menu.

Once the VGS is active, you can already hear the exhaust-like sounds in the back. You can also see it simulating the feeling of shifting gears as the car revs up.

When you are active in GT mode, the motor, steering, and suspension will automatically adjust for maximum performance. However, in the new model, you can fine-tune the settings yourself.

Kia launched the updated EV6 GT in Korea last month. Its starting price, with incentives, is just over $50,000 (72.2 million won).

In the US, Kia will assemble the new EV6 at its Georgia plant alongside the three-row EV9. It will be available in Light, Light Long Range, Wind, GT-Line, and GT models. Prices will be revealed closer to launch, which is expected in the first half of 2025.

Quebec, Canada’s second-largest province, passed a bill this week banning the sale of gasoline-powered light-duty vehicle starting in the 2035 model year – a timeline in line with the rest of the country’s ban, but the specifics of Quebec’s are even stronger.

In 2022, Canada unveiled a new emissions reduction plan with a mandate requiring scaling EV sales through 2035, at which point all new cars sold must be zero-emission vehicles.

That rule includes an exemption to allow the sale of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which still have an internal combustion engine, as long as the PHEV meets minimum requirements.

But Quebec decided to do one better, and passed a new bill this week which goes even further. It still has a 2035 target, but it also bans the sale of hybrids and plug-in hybrids.

Quebec is currently leading the rest of the Canada in new EV registrations, making up roughly half of the entire country’s EV sales despite only being a fifth of the country’s population. EVs hold about a 33% market share of new vehicle sales in the province, which is even more than California’s EV market share (Quebec and California share similar environmental philosophies – and even have a cross-border carbon cap-and-trade market).

Part of Quebec’s EV success is due to heavy government incentives through the Roulez vert (“green wheels”) program, though the government recently announced a temporary suspension of that program, and incentives will be cut in 2025 and eliminated in 2027.

It also competes for the cleanest electricity in Canada, with 94% hydropower and 5% wind power (Manitoba and Prince Edward Island also have ~99% renewable electricity grids).

So it’s a great place for an EV – and Quebec’s new bill recognizes that and turns it into law.

The specifics are that, as of Jan 31, 2034, Quebec will disallow the advertisement or sale of any model year 2035 light-duty vehicle with a combustion engine.

The ban also applies to used vehicles past model year 2035, thus disallowing import of cars from other provinces that might have more lax requirements than Quebec’s. This used car requirement not only protects Quebec’s law from the possibility of more lax laws in other provinces, but also from potential meddling by Canada’s federal government.

While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s long-running Liberal government has made climate change a priority, a potential future conservative government (which seems likely to come in the next year) might work to sabotage those efforts at improving the environment. If that does happen, Quebec’s provincial law would still apply.

Then later, on Dec 31, 2025, the sale or lease of new vehicles of model year 2034 or earlier would be banned. This later timeline will help allow dealerships to clear out inventory of older model vehicles.

It even applies to combustion engines themselves – you won’t even be able to sell the engines, unless it’s to replace an engine in a vehicle that’s already on the road.

The new law only applies to light-duty vehicles, not to medium/heavy duty vehicles or off-road vehicles like ATVs and snowmobiles (which are often run on two-stroke engines and are extremely noisy and high-polluting).

Quebec’s left-wing party, Quebec Solidaire, had requested that the timeline be set to 2030, rather than 2035 (something we’ve called for before, asking “why not sooner?” about California and Europe’s 2035 target). But the government was worried that not enough EVs would be available to supply Quebec’s market by that time.

However, there will be a chance to adjust this timeline. The bill directs the provincial government to analyze the market in 2026 and 2030, and potentially adjust the timeline for 2035 compliance. It’s possible that, if Quebec is way ahead of schedule, a 2035 timeline could be moved forward (after all, Norway came within shouting distance of its goal 3 years early). Maybe this is wishful thinking from this EV publication, but we’ll have our fingers crossed at least.

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Tesla is working with the City of Austin, the automaker’s new home, on deploying self-driving cars.

Now, Tesla simply needs to have self-driving cars.

According to a new Bloomberg report, Tesla has been in contact with Austin officials about the requirements to deploy self-driving cars in the city:

Emails acquired by Bloomberg through public records requests show a Tesla employee has been communicating with the city of Austin’s autonomous vehicle task force since at least May to establish safety expectations for the vehicles as the company decides if Austin will be the first Texas city where Tesla deploys driverless fleets.

Tesla has been holding these early discussions with some cities, like Palo Alto, since unveiling its steering wheel-less Cybercab and announcing that it will solve self-driving by the end of Q2 2025 with the first services launching in California and Texas.

California is the state with the most self-driving vehicles, and it has a long-established process to have self-driving rideshare services approved.

However, it requires safety standards and data reporting by the CA DMV. Tesla has long been embroiled in disputes with the state DMV to try to avoid reporting data about its Full Self-Driving program.

Texas is going to be a much easier market for Tesla’s self-driving effort. The state hasn’t regulated self-driving vehicles. It basically regulates them like regular vehicles.

They need to be able to respect traffic law, have video recording, insurance, and a license from the Texas Department of Licensing.

There’s no need to submit data proving it is safer than a human driver.

That’s good news for Tesla, considering the latest crowdsource data points to between 100 and 200 miles between critical disengagement.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also has a good relationship with the state of Texas since moving all his companies to the state.

Electrek’s Take

If Tesla has a chance at deploying a self-driving system anytime soon, it has to be in Texas. I don’t think it’s anywhere ready to deploy its long-promised unsupervised self-driving, but I could see Tesla using an approach closer to Waymo and deploying its Cybercabs in a geo-fenced mapped out area where a team can teleoperate the vehicles if they have to.

I can see it happen.

Tesla will claim self-driving victory even though it has little to do with what it has been promising for years: its customer fleet becoming robotaxis.