The Korean car manufacturer KIA has officially shown what the manufacturer’s electric flagship will look like, namely the EV9 crossover. This is just the beginning of KIA’s broader electrification strategy, which plans to offer 13 electric models by 2027. Company representative Arturs Mertens emphasizes that the new model is particularly important for KIA, as it will change the way people perceive the KIA brand.
The new KIA electric crossover will be the most expensive model in the manufacturer’s offer. Also one of the largest, it will be similar in size to the Telluride crossover in the US market. To be fair, the automaker is really just showing off the car and what it will look like this time, while the official parameters and other technical information will be released closer to the EV9’s official presentation, which is scheduled for the 3rd quarter of this year.
The manufacturer has stated that one of the goals is to make the EV9 able to travel about 540 kilometers on a single charge. Taking into account the dimensions, it is assumed that the car will be equipped with a battery of about 100kWh to really be able to drive such a long distance. The new model uses the best currently available to the Hyundai-KIA concern, that is, the car is built on the E-GMP platform and uses an 800V battery system that provides charging with a power of up to 350kW.
Like other cars on this platform, the EV9 will be available in both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions. The standard version should be followed soon by the EV9 GT version, which will aim to compete with the likes of the BMW iX M60. If the KIA EV6 GT developed 576 horsepower, then it is possible that the EV9 will have even more power.
This is the first KIA new model created entirely under the supervision of chief designer Karim Habib. He previously worked for BMW. Habib emphasizes that all KIA models will have common visual nuances and many of the design nuances seen in this model will be transferred to other models in the future, but KIA does not want to use the Russian toy or “matryoshka” principle, that is, in fact the same design and only the size differs.
“This is an SUV and we wanted that to be glaringly obvious. The design of the car, in our opinion, has all the main features of a crossover. I think there’s something beautiful and special about these angular crossovers, they don’t pretend to be something they’re not. When you look at a Land Rover Defender, whether it’s new or old, you still think there’s something stylish about the car,” in a conversation with Autocar said the designer.
Visually, the car is generally similar to the concept presented in 2021, but the car is lower. This is due to a simple fact – the concept was equipped with 23-inch wheels, while the production car was equipped with 21-inch wheels.
KIA is also not shy to emphasize that the interior of this car introduces a lot of new breezes – better technologies as well as higher quality materials, KIA stating that the car becomes something more than just a tool to move from point A to point B. The person responsible for the development of the interior Jochen Paesen has emphasized that the manufacturer does not want the screens to dominate the interior, while he admits that they become an integral part of the car anyway.
As for full-fledged technical parameters, it remains to wait for the summer, when the manufacturer will officially present the new machine.
