The Kia Telluride has been a big product for the brand. I have several friends that went from Land Rovers to Kia Tellurides, and they ad production back orders well before the pandemic due to larger than expected demand (Americans love big SUVs, no surprise there)
The Ev9 fills basically the electric version of the size slot.
Some interesting surfacing on the side. Interior looks nice with more physical buttons as seems to be the trend back to a more sane balance between on screen and physical controls. I’m sure the interior will have a bit more hard plastic than you want, as most of their cars do, but you have to hit the BOM price somehow.
I wish the front was a little simpler, it seems like perhaps some of the horizontal elements are fighting for dominance with the vertical elements.
Why are the back seats facing backwards? There is absolutely no legroom for people in the third row. If there is no one in the third row, how to you talk to the folks up front. And you will get a lot of vomit from those susceptible to motion sickness.
I quite like what Kia continues to do with their treatments of door and quarter panels stylistically. It is fresh and original. The front end expression is also quite delicious and marks Korea’s full maturation away from the cute childish aesthetic they were once known for. I can see the ideas and sensibilities the students I use to teach in Seoul in this vehicle.
Unlike American or European SUV aesthetics, these designs are captured inside a sterile studio environment and not out in the wild like say a Bronco or Rivian. They lack a contextural quality of blending with nature as they wind through the countryside. They are perfect for motoring through the elevated motorway/ high-rise/ sci-fi futurism that exists in cities like Seoul.
Those fender flares and wheel covers are horrid however…
The photo is a little confusing. The second row seats are more of a ‘captains chair’ in design and can rotate to face the third row. In the photo, the third row is on the left, I believe, and the second row is rotated to face it.
Purely on style I’ll take this over the Volvo any day of the week (assuming those are my only two choices.) At least there is some risk and freshness here, even if it isn’t 100% my cup of tea.
now the you mention it, those do look a little heavy handed, and I think it would have helped if the wheel arch opening itself wasn’t a perfect circle… if it responded to the flare shape a little more… since it is all black, it is hard to see, but it might have lightened it up a little. This is one thing that Jeep always does well:
Will go on a tangent here – My only comment on the interior is the same with a few other new cars – with the way interior UX is moving in the industry in general, a HUGE dashboard display is table stakes now. These thin rectangular screens don’t quite cut it - especially as UX transitions from “Driver” > “Driven”.
“Driven” can encompass Autopilot and Passenger UX - i.e. family, friend, uber, limo/taxi. And with that, we really should also be seeing huge Display integration on the headrests for all vehicles beginning from base models, simply because these modes of interaction are no longer just for entertainment, but serve as Gateways for People stepping into the vehicle. Also, in that way the future mass transit experience of First/Business class on a Plane or Train can be democratized via door-to-door road transport in regions that lack mass transit infrastructure.
Oh, for sure, agreed. I was just pointing out that they can face forward. I’m not sure what the use case is for facing back. Maybe the use case for reward is a couple of kids in car seats?
… but my first thing with wheels is how easy are they to keep clean? My TT wheels are so nice and easy to clean up.
