{"id":240237,"date":"2023-03-15T09:53:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T13:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=240237"},"modified":"2023-03-15T09:53:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T13:53:18","slug":"kia-unveils-the-2024-ev9-its-flagship-electric-suv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2023\/03\/kia-unveils-the-2024-ev9-its-flagship-electric-suv\/","title":{"rendered":"Kia Unveils the 2024 EV9, its Flagship Electric SUV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The 2024 Kia EV9’s window shape recalls that of the Kia Soul.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The success of the Kia Telluride and Kia EV6 are the foundation for the bold new 2024 Kia EV9, a three-row, battery-electric flagship SUV Kia Motors unveiled Tuesday. The big, bold new EV represents a further evolution of the brand\u2019s Opposites United design language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the company didn\u2019t reveal any technical details about the new vehicle, they did address its design and the maturing of the company\u2019s design approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt embraces contrast, it embraces things that come together that that we don’t necessarily believe come together. We think that represents life represents a diversity of life and that is, in our view, the beauty that sometimes comes from these things that are not necessarily perfect, yet so greatly go together,\u201d said Karim Habib, executive vice president and head of Kia Global Design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A closer look<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The EV9’s reimagined Tiger Face fascia visually wraps into the hood, lending dynamic visual movement to a blocky shape.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first thing you notice about the 2024 Kia EV9 is the electrified rendition of it signature Tiger Face fascia, one that incorporates vertical headlamps with a shape that recalls a star cluster, a design element most likely to be seen on future Kia EVs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hood itself lacks a power dome hood or creases. Instead, it picks up the idented portion of the Tiger Face fascia and visually wraps up and back across the hood, lending a sense of motion to the design. It\u2019s mirrored in the windshield, bracketed by blackened A-pillars that blend with the glass to give it a wraparound appearance. When paired with the body-color roof, it looks much like a baseball cap visor.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wraparound glass treatment led designers to lowering the beltline, which not only enlarged the windows, allowing for better outward visibility, it makes the wheels look bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The EV9’s abrupt rear similarly recalls, but doesn’t mimic the Soul.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It gives movement and softness to a tall boxy shape inspired not only by traditional, large SUVs, but also by the Kia Telluride, which has been a sales phenomenon that caught Kia by surprise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its boxy form is echoed throughout the vehicle by a small square, one that\u2019s seen on various parts of the vehicle, including the slanted side window trim. And its blunt back end and side window shape recall the iconic Kia Soul, a vehicle that\u2019s still an indelible part of Kia\u2019s brand identity. Yet the forms aren\u2019t merely replicated and enlarged; they are reimagined to lend a familiarity to the vehicle, while avoiding duplicative design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposites United indeed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The EV9’s wheel design incorporates a square within a circle; opposites united indeed.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But the brand\u2019s Opposites United design philosophy is everywhere on the vehicle\u2019s exterior design. Just as designers sought to create visual movement around the vehicle, a difficult task given its blocky silhouette. But the design philosophy led the team to soften the sheet metal below the beltline, giving it a sumptuous nature that offsets the EV9\u2019s harder edges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as boxy as it is, designers endowed the EV9 with as much sleekness as possible, which can be seen by the use of lush door handles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clever use of contrasts can be seen in the wheels, where the inset metallic trim forms a square within the wheels\u2019 round opening. It\u2019s clever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2024 EV9’s second-row seats swivel 180 degrees to face the rear.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Built on Kia\u2019s Electric Global Modular Platform, or E-GMP for short, it comes with seating for six or seven spread across three rows. Cleverly, the second-row seats swivel 180 degrees to face the third row. And the flat floor and large windows endow the cabin with a feeling of airiness and space.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambience is a bit more conventional than its exterior, and it lacks any hint of piano black trim, a hackneyed design solution too often used by modern car designers. Like the exterior, the interior\u2019s instrument panel and door panels accentuate the car\u2019s width and length. Its dominated by a large horizontal screen fitted with two 12.3 inch screens, one for the driver, the other for infotainment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wrap up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 Kia EV9 marks a notable maturing of Kia\u2019s design approach on an architecture that has proven itself on the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. This is a far larger vehicle, one perfectly suited to please Americans. But the vehicle is a major milestone for the brand, as well as the American vehicle market, as it\u2019s the first fully electric, mainstream, midsize, three-row SUV to go on sale here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kia has yet to confirm any information on its dimensions, range, powertrain, or battery pack. These specifics should be revealed during the EV9’s formal introduction in early April. Look for the 2024 Kia EV9 to reach showrooms by year’s end or early 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2024 Kia EV9 is a big vehicle and a big step forward for Kia. TheDetroitBureau.com explains why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13752,"featured_media":240224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,8,1608,2648,1347,9],"tags":[10146,4654,3466,808,10147],"make":[71],"post-state":[],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240237"}],"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\/13752"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240237"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240255,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240237\/revisions\/240255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240237"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=240237"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=240237"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=240237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}