The 2024 Kia EV9 SUV Practices Its Flagship Moves at the Test Track
The next Kia EV is pushing through its final testing phase before the camo comes off.
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The 2024 Kia EV9 SUV has officially broken cover, sort of. This all-new, large three-row electric SUV was first previewed by the wild EV9 concept at last year's L.A. auto show and has been confirmed for production, and it's nearly done with development and very much dusted—literally.
Kia released its first official images of the production EV9 electric SUV in action; the photos aren't nudes, however—the EV9 is going through its final testing phases ahead of its debut which is set for the first quarter of 2023. Even so, in one announcement Kia has revealed generally what the EV9 is going to look like and gave us its debut window. Not bad for those who are really looking forward to the Korean automaker's next EV.
The EV9 will play a crucial role in the expansion of Kia's EV fleet. Surely the automaker is determined to strike while the proverbial iron is hot, given how the smaller EV6 has faired very well on the review circuit and demand is high. A bigger alternative is sure to be eaten up by a public that can't seem to get enough of the similarly boxy, traditionally powered Kia Telluride.
Kia says the EV9 is set to be its "flagship," model so expect it to have the best of everything Kia has to offer along with a price to match. Apparently, the EV9 has been in development for 44 months—since well before even the concept version appeared in 2021—and throughout that period has been tested for range, performance, and comfort. This final phase of testing held at Kia's global Namyang R&D center in Korea is meant to measure the EV9's durability.
The EV9 is being pushed through what Kia calls a "verification program" on a climbing hill and a "rough terrain" track. Additionally, Kia is putting the EV9 through deep-water wading tests which sounds like an exceptionally dicey thing to do in an EV, but is pretty standard practice among makers of electric SUVs these days. After all, what good is an adventurous and rugged SUV that can't handle a little water?
Tests aside, these first images provide a decent look at the EV9's production styling cues, covered though they are by a vinyl camouflage wrap. One thing we can't tell from these photos is if the 2024 Kia EV9 will feature the "digital tiger face" front end found on the concept car from last year. Otherwise, even with the wrap in place, we can see that the production EV9 retains much of the show vehicle's sharp angular lines and boxy shape. Like the EV6, the 2024 Kia EV9 will be built on the Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), which is an electrified platform Kia shares with Hyundai and Genesis.
Expect to hear more about the 2024 Kia EV9 early next year. Our guess is that the EV9's debut may likely take place around the Chicago auto show, which is set to take place in February 2023.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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