Why kotlin gradle plugin cannot build with 1.8 target?

I think this could be helpful for those using Android Studio 3.2 on Mac.

To change the Kotlin Compiler Target JVM version you should go to Android Studio -> Preferences -> Kotlin Compiler and then change the Target JVM version choosing from the dropdown.

Anyway, I’m still getting the following error

Calls to static methods in Java interfaces are prohibited in JVM target 1.6. Recompile with ‘-jvm-target 1.8’

SOLVED

Adding the following to my build.gradle solved the problem:

android {
    kotlinOptions {
        jvmTarget="1.8"
    }
}

About this and other Gradle configuration options: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/using-gradle.html

With Kotlin Gradle DSL:

import org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.dsl.KotlinJvmOptions

(kotlinOptions as KotlinJvmOptions).apply {
    jvmTarget = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8.toString()
}