Kia K9 (or K900 for America) is the flagship sedan from the Korean manufacturer which was introduced 2012. And after a few yearly updates, Kia has decided to work with the new generation of its flagship. Spotted for the first time undergoing cold-climate tests in northern Scandinavia, the Kia K9 is expected to be unveiled by the end of this year.
The highly-camouflaged test mule doesn’t seem to have drastic changes. It retains the total length of 5.10 metres with large overhangs and the sleeker roofline. Kia’s trademark “Tiger-nose” grill is maintained, while the redesigned LED headlights and taillights are peeking through the camouflage. The current gen K9 makes use of the BH-L (VI) platform which also underpins the Hyundai Equus and Genesis. The new car will continue to use the same platform. There seems no change on the wheel size on the new car as the test mule is riding on alloy wheels which are already available in the current car.
Engine options for the new K9 will include the same 3.8-litre V6 producing 311bhp and the 5.0-litre V8 pumping out 420bhp. Sending the powers to the rear wheels will be a standard eight-speed automatic with paddle shifters. There is no all-wheel drive option available as yet, but the new generation could change that.
Kia’s first major plunged into the Luxo-barge segment, the K9 never was able to set the sales on fire. It sold a total of just 2,134 cars last year in the American market. The K9 was targeted at the BMW 5 Series, Cadillac CTS and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Currently, the car is sold in international countries like South Korea (as the Kia K9), the Middle East, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Russia (as the Kia Quoris), United States, and Canada.
Kia Motors India debut next year?
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Kia Motors, the Korean car maker, has slowly built a reputation for itself in the European and the American car markets. Expectedly, its next step would be to expand its global footprint and venture into the growing Indian car market, the fifth largest automobile market in the world. It is learnt that the Korean car maker is already in the process of evaluating their entry into the Indian market.
Kia Motors is the sister concern of the second largest car manufacturer in India – Hyundai. Han-Woo Park, CEO Kia Motors has had experience of the Indian car market when he served as the top gun for Hyundai India. Park had been instrumental in building the core Hyundai team in India that went on to surpass Tata, Mahindra and Honda to challenge the Maruti Suzuki, the market leader in the country.
As of now, Kia Motors is the 9th largest car maker in the world selling over 30 lakh cars and has 14 manufacturing plants across the world. Kia Motors is mulling setting up their plant number 15 in India and the due diligence is said to be in its final stages. As per sources, the announcement is expected to come by March 2017.
Hyundai’s perception in India is still of an easy-on-budget brand and hence Kia would naturally will have to take the premium position to create an identity for itself. Also, Hyundai-Kia will have to take into consideration the Renault-Nissan-Datsun and Skoda-Volkswagen cases in India where the multi-pronged approach has not really worked in wooing the Indian customer.
Hyundai’s learnings in India over the years would certainly help the Kia strategy. Also, Kia’s global image with SUV’s might come handy for the Korean car maker with the future of the automobile market looking to go the SUV way.
2017 Kia Rio sedan revealed
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The Rio sedan is among Kia’s most popular models and now there’s an all-new iteration out for the Chinese market. The vehicle is scheduled to hit the showrooms in China on November 7.
Looking rather different compared to the all-new Euro-spec Rio hatch shown earlier this year, this sedan model has been designed specifically for China. For other markets, Kia will have a slightly different front-end for the Rio sedan.
Coming back to the China-spec model, there will two engine options to pick from. Firstly, there’s the 1.4-litre four-cylinder unit that produces 99bhp at 6,300rpm and 132Nm of torque at 4,000rpm and secondly, there’s the more powerful 122bhp 1.6-litre unit. While the 1.4 can be had with either a 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic, the 1.6-litre is paired only to the 6-speed auto.
The 2017 Kia Rio sedan will officially go on sale in China later this year and compete against the Volkswagen Polo sedan.
- source”cnbc”