Kia gave the EV6 a bigger battery and a sharper face. The Model Y should worry.

The 2026 Kia EV6 has landed in Australian showrooms with a bigger battery, more claimed range, a redesigned face and the smallest price increase in living memory. The Air RWD opens at $72,660 plus on-roads. The flagship GT AWD tops the line at $99,660 plus on-roads. Every variant is $70 more than the car it replaces.

That is not a typo. $70.

What actually changed

The headline is a new 84kWh nickel-cobalt-manganese battery, up from 77.4kWh. Claimed range climbs from 528km to 582km on the rear-wheel-drive Air with 19-inch wheels under WLTP testing. Both rear-drive and all-wheel-drive versions get the new pack.

Inside, the EV6 moves to Kia's ccNC dual-screen layout with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and full over-the-air update support. There is a new steering wheel, fingerprint authentication on GT-Line and GT models, and Kia's latest Star Map lighting signature has rewritten the face. Headlights and daytime running lights now stretch wider, which makes the car look meaner from the front and the new front bumper deeper.

The GT variant has gone up the chart again. Power lifts to 478kW and 770Nm with boost enabled, with Kia claiming 0-100 km/h in under 3.5 seconds. Australian-spec confirmation on those numbers is still pending.

How it sits against the Model Y and Sealion 7

The Tesla Model Y Long Range RWD is now around $69,900 in Australia with a claimed 551km of range. The BYD Sealion 7 Premium starts at $58,990 driveaway with 482km claimed. The EV6 Air RWD is more expensive than both before on-roads, but it has more claimed range than the Model Y and the build feels closer to what European money buys you. The Sealion 7 is the value play. The Model Y is still the default. The EV6 is the answer if you want neither.

Cartell Assessment

This is what an honest facelift looks like. Bigger battery where the spec sheet improvements matter, new infotainment that fixes the old one's worst habit (no over-the-air updates), and a $70 price bump that says Kia knows it cannot raise prices in 2026 even if costs went up. The Star Map face is a marketing line, but the lights themselves are better at signalling intent at night. If you bought a 2024 EV6 you can still hold your head up. If you are buying new, the 2026 is the one that will hold value.

AU Outlook

The refreshed EV6 starts arriving in dealers across June. The bigger question for Kia is the EV6 GT, which is fighting both the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N (same group) and the BYD Seal Performance. At $99,660 plus on-roads, the GT now sits in serious money territory. Whether 478kW and a sub-3.5 second sprint can pull buyers away from a Porsche Macan Electric is the test Kia has set itself for the second half of the year.