Kia K9
Last Updated:
These are the first official pictures of the all new “Big Kia” sedan.
the name K9 is for the Korean market only.
Kia mentions that the name for export markets will be revealed later.
Which means we might be getting this.
Here is the official PR BS about the car:
“K9 is our first rear-wheel drive large sedan, created without compromise in its design, driving performance and new technologies. K9 sets a whole new level of standards and values in the large sedan segment, and its design will be another Kia demonstration of our brand’s power to surprise the world.”
Simply Stunning… and a beautiful expression of the design themes originating from the 2011/2012 Optima.
Note: Now watch some start saying it looks exactly like the BMW ^-series 'sedan' LOL!
clean, nice GM /import mix looking type sedan…..but this look is not new nor groundbreaking. as a matter of fact, it's a look with ties to cars from 2003-2007. first Infiniti g series etc….if thjis car is expensive , meaning over 35-40,000 forget it!
Listen Kia, we are not stupid, you can't sell a car that is expensive and you can't copy every other car out there and hope to succeed. Anyone that is rewarding themselves with a luxury sedan will not do it with a kia…..come on….wake up and stop building cars for your own ego, it will bomb terribly.
when Kia, a company that has enjoyed some success chasing economy car buyers switches to high end luxury…..it fails
I am sure you all know Kia and Hyundai are one in the same. You also know that They have gotten better quality wise verses the junk they used to sell us. But don't for a second put them in a Category with Japanese quality. It just doen't exist.
Ive seen a picture of the engine in this car. I notice that on top of the engine cover it says "GDI".
Does that stand for "Guaranteed Dealer Income"?
Much like the wild success of its Hyundai brethren, I'm sure this will be a big hit. Sure, it has styling cues of the Bimmer, but in my humble opinion, it executes those cues much better than the muddled-up BMW. Kia should give their former Audi-designer a huge bonus this year. The brand, across the spectrum, is pretty beautiful.
I see mostly Jaguar XF and Lincoln MKS. and yeah, there's a BMW (B)angle or two…but don't most cars copy or take inspiration from elsewhere these days? Matter of fact, cars always have, with a few variations. That's just the way car design seems to work.
This car is basically designed to fight against the imported German luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes, and Audi in Korean domestic market. Although Hyundai and Kia dominate Korean auto market, over 80% MS, German luxury brands are increasing MS in Korea, over 40% Korean market is world's 4th or 5th largest market after U.S. Germany, U.K. China for BMW 7 series, MB S-class and Audi A-8. These cars are so hot that sometimes importers over night them by air. Korean market for these premium luxury German brands are even bigger than its neighbor Japan even though it has less than half the population. And the market is growing much faster than Japan or any other Western markets.
Overall clean n well executed thanks to Peter. Much better than anything coming out of its cousins in Japan.
The K9 would be the first model to receive the new 4.6L GDI engine, the all-new 10-speed auto trans, and also the all new all-wheel-drive system.
Kia/Hyundai passed Toyota/Honda on quality about 5 years ago. The ONLY issues here is TRADITION. Luxury car sedan buyers are redundant and predictable. They want what someone else already has. Although conservative by today's standards, this may be too "new" to make it as a lux. In the same way Genesis, Q45, Jag and others have never hit the BMW/MB/Audi/Lexus "bread & butter" market share.
Heck of a great car, though!
beautiful. even got the euro-centrics talking trash; kia must be doing something right!
Someone let all the Kia salesman comment here again. Keep dreaming Kia salesman.
Kia stands for substandard.
I wanted to comment but got disgusted by all the paid Kia employees comments already made here.
"Kia/Hyundai passed Toyota/Honda on quality about 5 years ago. "
Really? Wrong. Let's be crystal clear… Five years ago Kia/Hyundai coaxed people with bad credit into trashy cars with easy financing and a ridiculous warranty. And they paid-off magazines by huge ad buys and kickbacks.
And the paid shills evangelize these shitty products. Lovely.
Simply awkward and homely…oops…sorry, I just puked a lil…
"WAH WAH Why don't people hate the brand / car that I hate? WAH WAH"
to: February 29, 2012 10:16 PM
Just call'en em as I see em. Never worked for ANY car Co and Drive mostly Chryslers & BMW,s; but to suggest that Hyundai/Kia are as lost as Honda or worse quality than Toyota (which was on CNN recently for more Lexus Unintended Acceleration issues)–well that's just not facing today's reality! The Koreans are turning out some great cars and this looks to be another winner!
Stop drinking the kool-aid. Hyundai executives are laughing at you right now for believing their lies and propaganda. If you "call it like you see it" then you're seeing it wrong.
CNN has a political bias to show Toyota in a bad light. This is the continuation of the US government which hunt against Toyota. Of course the US government would not say anything bad about Hyundai, since South Korea is best buddies with the US, and South Korea does whatever the US tells them to do.
Fact is this new Kia is just a 7 Series knock-off, with a few Lexus styling cues thrown in. Why should the Koreans be given credit for that? They shouldn't? Is it BETTER than a 7 Series? Of course not.
Also regarding quality and reliability, don't believe the propaganda once again. Just because paid shills claim quality is great for Hyundai/Kia, doesn't mean it's true. Yes they've improved, but when you're at rock bottom, the only way to go is up.
Look at every reputable quality survey out there in the world; in long-term quality and reliability Toyota and Honda continue to be clearly ahead of Hyundai/Kia.
To all the underinformed trolls commenting about poor reliability and propoganda and design copying. Just do a simple google search and you'll find that in all reliability surveys from American to European that Hyundai and Kia are level and even surpass the Japaneese.
If you think that they are all payed but Hyundai and Kia and it's all a big conspiracy then too bad for you. Also the former cheef designer at Audi is now chief designer for Kia and a former designer at BMW is now chief designer at Hyundai. So of course designs from one designer looks like his others. Really folks, inform yourself, because now you just look like idiots !
Oh oh, the conspiracy theory is the only thing the Toyota troll can say here, how weak Toyota rep. , how weak.. First of all Korean cars are substandard. Second , Toyota is a company that begged CNN not to reveal Anderson Coopers findings last week. They have cars that seem to, allegedly caused a lot of trouble…..folks, junk is junk… I say avoid Korean junk and Toyota skunk.
The Korean paid representatives are on full attack I see.
No, Hyundai/Kia does NOT match or exceed Toyota/Honda long-term reliability. Consumer Reports proves this, JD Power's reliability survey proves this, and European long-term quality surveys prove this.
Anything anyone says to the contrary is lies and useless propaganda.