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This is the Kia K9, Kia’s first rear-drive flagship for North America. Kia has previously sold a rebadged Mazda 929 in Korea but those days are mercifully over.
Someone in South Korea took a couple videos of the K9 driving along a highway. You can peruse them for yourself below. The K9 will probably shed its alphanumeric moniker when it arrives in 2013.
25 Comments on “Kia K9 Rear Drive Sedan Spied In South Korea...”
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I’m not saying it’s a dog, but Kia had better’d be ready for an advertising blitz. That car can hide in plain sight.
Dog – K9. Aaaaah, I see what you did there.
But yes, it is a total blandmobile when it comes to styling. Should sell like hotcakes then!
Looks good, but I expected more. The Optima is sharper…maybe too sharp for the styling to be used on a large car for the Korean market?
Like the greenhouse and rear, but I think Schreyer did a bit too much with the headlight design (simpler, cleaner lines would have been better).
As for the inside, the seats and interiors of the doors look nicer than in the Equus, but the dash design is a mess (as in the Equus) and looks too “old-fashioned” for that type of modern sheetmetal.
“K9” might be a good moniker for an SUV…as in faithful, reliable, athletic, etc.
For a luxury car? Not so much.
This car is STUPID plain. What is the case for buying this?
That’s also a question for the new Azera when you have the Sonata below and Genesis above.
I disagree. I think the Azera is beautiful. The Sonata has too many wrinkles, and the Genesis is too plain. The Azera gets it just right.
The K + (number) moniker is for the Korean market (for example, the Optima is the K5 and the Cadenza is the K7) and if the K9 does come to the States, it won’t be with the K9 moniker.
And this car is primarily for the Korean market where they are snapping up RWD luxury flagship sedans.
woof woof
I had to.
What is fascinating is the “stuff” spewing from the smoke stacks in the background. If you see that here in Amerika, EPA would have you shut down in a second!
Yeah, that water vapor is a major green house gas if there ever was one.
Spoken like someone who’s never been to New Jersey or Gary, IN.
Elizabeth City, New Jersey FTW
Or parts of the Gulf coast region.
Those are trees on the side of the road, slightly blurred when the video is paused.
Why did they change their mesh-y grill insert with these vertical chrome strips? By that the car’s nose looks a loooooooooot more like one of the bigger-nosed BMWs (5er GT or 7 series). Doing that delibaretly makes it look like falling back to times when Korean cars copied styling cues of other, more prominent brands to share on their cachet.
I agree it does look like the nose from an elongated BMW.
Looks a lot like a Buick.
“This is the Kia K9, Kia’s first rear-drive flagship for North America. Kia has previously sold a rebadged Mazda 929 in Korea but those days are mercifully over.”
The 929 IMO was a decent car for its time. Rear wheel drive and very good brakes along with a very good exterior design…If it was made today probably not. Years ago..it was a decent design.
It looks like a last gen BMW 7 series knock off from the back and like a current BMW 5 from the front. I like it anyway.
I wonder if it’ll will be available with the 5 liter…
Knowing Kia Comercials, we’ll see dogs driving it while gangsta rapping.
This car appears to be the miasmic aftermath of a drunken night of congress between a BMW 550i Gran Turismo and a Maserati Quattroporte. Its (relatively) better looking stillborn fraternal twin goes by the name of “De Tomaso Deauville 2011 Concept”.
Make mine sky blue metallic.
H/Kia have figured out that you can badge engineer your whole line-up with little investment and maximum payback. Just like Audi, Lexus, GM Ford, Nissan and on and on.
So far the Hyundai-Kia platform approach looks more like the VW branding technique than the traditional GM or Ford badge-engineering.