{"id":150886,"date":"2020-07-31T10:58:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T14:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=150886"},"modified":"2020-07-31T11:12:56","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T15:12:56","slug":"kia-caught-testing-flagship-all-electric-insignia-suv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2020\/07\/kia-caught-testing-flagship-all-electric-insignia-suv\/","title":{"rendered":"Kia Caught Testing Flagship All-Electric Imagine SUV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A prototype Kia Imagine EV is caught in testing by Auto Express magazine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kia already has begun electrifying its line-up and, like most competitors, it plans to roll out an array of new models during the next few years \u2013 including a flagship SUV first teased at the Geneva Motor Show in 2019.<\/p>\n

Now, what is known inside the South Korean company as the CV has been caught on the streets testing by Britain\u2019s Auto Express, and the images suggest the new model is both quite close to the design of the concept and pretty well near ready for production.<\/p>\n

The all-electric SUV is expected to serve as the new flagship for the Kia brand and, like the original Geneva concept, it is all but certain to carry the name Imagine \u2013 though a surprise could be in store considering Kia seems to be shifting to an alphanumeric nomenclature, as we see with the launch of the new K5 replacing the old Optima sedan.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Imagine that! Kia stretches its imagination with Geneva battery-car concept.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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The spy shots of the Kia Imagine suggest the concept’s suicide doors won’t carry over into production.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There had been plenty of skeptics when the Kia Imagine concept first appeared nearly 18 months ago, but speaking at the Swiss show, Luc Donkerwolke, then Kia\u2019s global design chief, said it was \u201cnot a free exercise (but) has a purpose \u2026 actually communicating with our customers\u201d what would be coming to market. He also said that pretty much all the design elements on the Imagine concept were \u201cfeasible\u201d for production, unlike many pie-in-the-sky show cars.<\/p>\n

The one significant change to the Imagine concept that these spy shots suggest is the return to conventional rear doors. The Geneva concept featured rear suicide doors but the heavy camouflage on the coupe-style crossover visible here appears to put the rear handles where you\u2019d expect on more conventional doors. But that could be an intentional trick. There is also a bit of blue tape stuck on the black camo where a handle for a rear-opening door might be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
An original pic from Kia shows not only the suicide doors but the roomy cabin benefiting from moving batteries and motors below the load floor,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyone still questioning plans for a production Imagine must take note of the plans outlined by Kia\u2019s parent, the Hyundai Motor Group, which plans to spend 104 trillion Korean won, or around $87 billion, during the next five years on the development of both electric and autonomous vehicles, EVs expected to take the lion\u2019s share of that investment. There will be an assortment of different products coming, from conventional hybrids to all-electric models like the Kia Imagine, as well as hydrogen-electric products following up on the current Hyundai Nexo model.<\/p>\n

All three brands, including the Genesis luxury marque, as well as mainstream Kia and Hyundai, will electrify, and the group is targeting sales of around 1 million EVs by 2025.<\/p>\n

Kia already has entered the electric arena with its green-focused Niro model which is offered in several different configurations, including an all-electric version. There\u2019s also a second-generation version of the Soul EV.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
But for the original suicide doors, the production Kia Imagine is expected to stray little from the design of the 2019 Geneva Motor Show concept.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the Kia Imagine takes a big leap forward. Rather than squeezing batteries and motors into a platform originally designed for an internal combustion engine, the flagship SUV was designed, ground up, to be all-electric and will use the newly developed, skateboard-style E-GMP architecture that will underpin a variety of different Kia battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs. Among those will be a large Hyundai crossover that may be designated the 45 EV.<\/p>\n

The approach offers numerous advantages. By mounting the motors and battery pack below the load floor there\u2019ll be no intrusion on Imagine\u2019s passenger compartment and, as these images suggest, the SUV features a relatively short hood since there\u2019s no internal combustion engine to house up front, allowing for even more passenger and cargo space.<\/p>\n

(Kia HabaNiro offers hint of brand’s future EV strategy.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Since batteries are the heaviest element in an EV, mounting them low also drops the SUV\u2019s center of gravity, enhancing handling. And, in developing the Imagine drivetrain, Kia reportedly relied on parent Hyundai\u2019s new relationship with Rimac, the Croatian carmaker known for its electric supercars. That would suggest the Imagine will deliver tremendous power and 0 to 60 times that could come in at 3 seconds or less.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Kia HabaNiro is an exercise showing where the automaker wants to take its electric vehicles in the future.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By comparison, the current Kia Niro needs nearly 8 seconds to hit 60 and delivers an EPA rating of 238 miles per charge.<\/p>\n

As for power, the company has indicated the BEV will have range of \u201caround 300 miles\u201d using the latest generation of lithium-ion batteries. Meanwhile, the electrical architecture will be one of the first to handle the new 800-volt, 350-kilowatt quick chargers just beginning to pop up around the world. (Porsche\u2019s Taycan is the only model currently on the road able to make full use of them.) If early comments prove accurate, Kia hopes to see charging times of less than 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Range is clearly a critical factor for potential EV buyers and, even in cold weather climes, the target for the Kia Imagine would make the BEV feasible for daily use. The charging time is still nearly three times more than it takes to fill an empty gas tank but is significantly better than anything currently available and, since most Americans are expected to continue charging up primarily at home, Kia could effectively eliminate two of the key barriers to entry for an EV.<\/p>\n

Cost, meanwhile, would likely be less of an issue for those interested in a vehicle like the Kia Imagine, since it is targeting a less price-sensitive premium segment.<\/p>\n

(Kia Futuron: An EV design the Jetsons\u00a0would love.)<\/a><\/u><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

We hope to have more information on the Kia Imagine \u2013 including more precise timing on its launch \u2013 in the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kia is expecting to cover a broad spectrum of the market with all-electric models by 2025 and the Kia Imagine crossover, due out in 2021, will serve as the flagship model, reports TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,8,5,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[61,64,71],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,286,149,150,151,123,287,300,319,289,155,158,231,272,154,236,263,132,130,284,125,139,290,128,291,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150886"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=150886"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=150886"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=150886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}