The Kia PV5 Passenger is futuristic, spacious and deeply practical, but the five-seat launch version feels like the story has started before the best chapter has arrived

This is the Kia PV5 Passenger, and no, I don’t normally review commercial vehicles, but this one sits in that interesting space between van, MPV, taxi, family bus and rolling sci-fi appliance. Kia calls it a Platform Beyond Vehicle, or PBV, which sounds like marketing nonsense until you understand the idea. Because electric vehicles use a flat skateboard-style platform, Kia can build different bodies on top of it: a proper van, a passenger version like this, a chassis cab for conversions, and potentially all sorts of specialist versions in future. You know, I’ve been taking about this flexibility for years – looks like manufacturers are finally starting to exploit it.