Kia trademarks EV6 Air, EV6 Earth, EV6 Light and EV6 Water

Kia has primed this side of the world to expect its EV6 battery-electric crossover to come in base, GT-Line, and flagship GT trims when it reaches series production. There was also a First Edition trim, but that sold out in a day. In Europe, though, Kia could have a more varied and elemental naming scheme in mind. A poster on the Kia EV forum discovered European trademark applications for the names EV6 Air, EV6 Earth, EV6 Light and EV6 Water, which were filed on July 20. One of these is already a trim name in two countries that we know of so far. We expect the others will follow, but they might also be market-specific.

The pricing page of Kia's UK site shows the entry-level model as the Kia EV6 Air, fitted with the crossover's available larger 77.4-kWh battery and a 226-horsepower motor turning the rear wheels only. The top-spec model on the sceptered isle is the all-wheel-drive GT-Line with the same 77.4-kWh battery powering two e-motors good for a combined 321 hp. The EV6 Air hasn't made it to France yet, where the four trims offered are Active, Design, GT-Line and GT. But the EV6 Air has reached Spain where it's still the base model, as in the UK, but has a different spec. The Iberian EV6 Air comes in two rear-wheel-drive forms, one with 167 horsepower and one with 226 horsepower. Above that, Spain also gets RWD and AWD EV6 GT-Line trims, and the AWD-only EV6 GT with the maximum 576 hp. None of the elements have crossed the border into The Netherlands yet, the EV6 model brochure only showing base EV6, EV6 Plus (which we haven't seen anywhere else), EV6 GT-Line and EV6 GT. 

Kia's spreads a giant bag of trim names throughout its models, though, so anything is possible once the EV6 gets past the surge of initial demand and continues its rollout. We dig the Last Airbender epithets. They offer personality beyond alphanumerics, while not yet going as far as Volvo, which will "give [its EV] cars a name as you give a newborn child."