Should sell like hotcakes — Heres our first look at Kias EV9 three-row electric SUV The EV9 was designed with American tastes in mind and goes on sale later this year.
Jonathan M. Gitlin – Mar 14, 2023 9:00 pm UTC Enlarge / This is a prototype of the new Kia EV9 electric SUV, which goes on sale in the latter half of 2023.Kia reader comments 126 with Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Kia provided flights from DC to Seoul and back, plus two nights in a hotel, so we could meet the prototype EV9. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
SEOUL, KOREAIn 2021, Kia used that year’s Los Angeles Auto Show to debut a new electric concept called the EV9. Today, Kia took the wraps off the production version, which goes on sale in the second half of this year. The production EV9 is definitely an evolution of the show car but with some of the concept’s more outrageous design details toned down a bit.
It’s a large three-row SUV that uses Kia and Hyundai’s advanced new electric vehicle platform called E-GMP, which has already impressed us and many others in new EVs like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6. Those two are smaller crossovers, but the EV9 is bringing that 800 V technology to a larger vehicle, one that should be well-suited to North American tastes. The production EV9 has much less scalloped doors than the concept we saw in 2021. It’s a little shorter than the Kia Telluride but with a much longer wheelbase. Kia Kia maintained an upright stance for the EV9’s exterior to maximize interior space and keep an iconic SUV shape. Kia
“The journey over the last couple of years to get to where we are now in terms of design could only happen when designers and brands work together, and this design philosophyopposites unitedis very much based on that idea of movement and richness through movement,” explained Karim Habib, head of Kia Global Design. “It’s about the juxtaposition of [a] man-made structure in nature and how that contrast actually can be very beautiful or even within nature itself.”
“As one example, you’ll see that we have these very high, very boxy, triangular fenders,” Habib said. “But at the same time, we have a very sleek body with a very low center of gravity. A low center of gravity for an SUV is a bit unusual. We also had a pretty low belt line, so a lot of glass.” Advertisement
The most obvious changes are more normal headlights at the frontalthough the distinctive vertical daylight running lights made the transition from concept to production unscathed, evoking Kia’s “tiger nose” grille without an actual grille. Size-wise, it’s three inches shorter in length than the Kia Telluride SUV, albeit with a significantly longer wheelbase, and it’s an inch taller and three inches wider than the conventionally powered Telluride. Enlarge / The EV9’s daylight running lights give this EV a very distinctive look.Kia
Interior space was an important consideration. “This is on our dedicated E-GMP architecture,” Habib explained. “So we wanted to take full advantage of that with a flat floor. You’ll see on the dashboard, on the doors, on the console, we’re not just working with the object itself, but we really tried to work on the spacing between the objects,” he said, referring to the use of negative space juxtaposed with the screens on the EV9’s dash.
That interior is much more conventional than the EV9 concept car’s, particularly the steering wheel, which is now completely normal compared to the rhomboid device we saw in 2021.
Refreshingly, there is not a single bit of piano-black trim anywhere in the interior. Enlarge / The production EV9 has a much more conventional interior than the concept, and that’s no bad thing.KIa
“We have consciously not used piano black,” explained Jochen Paesen, vice president of interior design at Kia. “We’re using a middle gray; it’s in both matte and gloss. But as you see, the combination between matte and gloss is what makes it feel refined rather than just having a lot of gloss material. So it gives you a modernity, we feel. The black gloss has had its timewe can do without it,” Paesen told Ars. Page: 1 2 Next → reader comments 126 with Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Jonathan M. Gitlin Jonathan is the automotive editor at Ars Technica, covering all things car-related. Jonathan lives and works in Washington, D.C. Email jonathan.gitlin@arstechnica.com // Twitter @drgitlin Advertisement Promoted Comments bburdge Sometimes it gets frustrating when every third comment in the EV articles is how cars are too big and only small EVs should be incentivized.
If Tesla got nothing else right about making the EV transition it was to make the cars that people want to drive. People seem to buy an awful lot of mid and full sized SUVs. Those people definitely had the option to buy a smaller vehicle, even a smaller ICEV. They didn’t, they don’t.
Those people are not going to suddenly see a Chevy Bolt, leap up and trade in their navigator, or cx-9 to get one.
However they might see this, an EV that fits with what they want, and make that change. And for every 15-20mpg SUV that gets replaced with this (which I suspect will be in the 90mpge range) it’s that much less carbon.
The last 10 years show this. Nissan has sold the leaf since 2011, it’s had updates and improvements, and sold, let’s say moderately. But it didn’t push the sales, it wasn’t grabbing ICEV market share YoY, it’s plodded along.
Tesla, and the burst of EVs in sizes and styles people have actually wanted to buy have expanded the market fast, and have been growing EV market share YoY impressively. I would rather have EVs that people are actually buying and excited to drive, even if that means less than perfect efficiency March 14, 2023 at 10:03 pm Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars