Kia’s all-electric EV9 SUV got its world debut at this week’s New York Auto Show ahead of order books opening in the second half of 2023 – and Auto Express climbed in to see how the new model shapes up.
The EV9 – expected to go on sale later this year with prices starting from around £65,000 – will push Kia even further upmarket and is set to challenge everything from Volvo’s EX90 to the all-electric Range Rover, considerably undercutting both. But can it match up to the luxury of established premium rivals? On first examination, the answer’s yes – on quality, comfort and tech.
Pulling hold of the flush-fitting, retractable door handles we were struck by the weight of the doors themselves. They open to a cabin using calming colours and more inviting materials than we’ve seen from Kia before – not surprising given the price point – but visually at least a match for any other premium SUV.
There are a few surprisingly hard plastics, notably around the window switches on the doors, but there’s an impressive feeling of airiness with a low scuttle and deep windows for a good view out. A small steering wheel sits in front of familiar Kia/Hyundai twin information and infotainment screens – not surprising given the EV9’s sharing its E-GMP platform architecture with the group’s other recent EVs.
There are plenty of sustainable materials used inside, while the seats are comfortable with plenty of storage in the door cubbies and between the front seats. Smart, subtle interior LED lighting gives a very premium feel, too.
While rows one and two – with good access through wide-opening doors for both – provide plenty of head and kneeroom, the third row is considerably tighter unless those in the middle row compromise their leg space.
The payoff is a very usable 572 litres of space with all seats up. Fold the back row into the floor using the pull straps velcroed to the seat backs and fold the middle row, too, and that space rises to 2,319 litres.
With a very premium tech list that includes a digital key stored on your smartphone and over-the-air updates, the EV9 certainly feels very upmarket. And with a long queue of buyers already willing to shell out well over £60,000 for an EV6 GT, spending such a considerable sum on a car with a Kia badge on the nose doesn’t seem like the problem it might have been just a couple of years ago.
Further specs have been revealed for Kia’s EV9 electric SUV, following the flagship model’s reveal a couple of weeks ago. Details regarding battery capacity, range, power and charging technology have now been revealed.
At more than five metres long and almost two metres wide, the range-topping seven-seat EV will sit above the existing EV6 and forthcoming EV5 (above) in Kia model range. The most expensive versions of the EV9 will feature a large 99.8kWh battery, and its maker is targeting a maximum range of 336 miles on a charge for the very longest range version.
Kia EV9 batteries and powertrains
The EV9 will be offered with rear and dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrains, all featuring the brand’s innovative 800-volt electric architecture built into the E-GMP platform shared with the EV6. That tech should ensure a 10-80 per cent charge in less than 20 minutes.
The base RWD car uses a 215bhp/350Nm electric motor and will accelerate from 0-62mph in 9.4 seconds, and is equipped with a 76.1kWh battery. The AWD variant, meanwhile, almost doubles the power output to 380bhp/600Nm, slashing the benchmark sprint to six seconds flat. An optional boost function – available as an over-the-air (OTA) update – increases torque and reduces the 0-62mph time to 5.3 secs. This version of the car comes with the 99.8kWh battery, while a third option exists in the form of a Long Range RWD car that combines a 201bhp motor with the larger pack – this is the variant Kia claims a range of 336 miles for.
OTA updates are expected to feature prominently on the EV9; owners can visit the Kia Connect Store to purchase digital features and services on demand. The firm says this gives them the flexibility to choose features they want to “continuously upgrade the capability of the EV9”.
While exact UK specs are yet to be determined, a Kia spokesperson said we can expect the line-up to mirror that of the EV6 hatchback. That should mean an entry-level model, plus GT-Line and GT-Line S cars. We’re told every version will get a trio of screens and at least 19-inch wheels, plus a leather-free cabin using “bio-based materials”, such as corn, sugar cane, and natural oils. Kia says the EV9 will introduce “conditional” Level 3 autonomous tech.
Kia EV9 design details
The EV9 is designed to be the largest and most expensive zero-emissions vehicle in the Kia range. It’s one of 14 new EVs that the company will launch globally over the next five years, and is the first of nine that will make it into UK showrooms.
The new creation is an overtly upright, blocky SUV that’s larger than the Sorento – more in line, in fact, with the five metre-long Telluride that Kia sells in the United States. That means it’s only very slightly shorter than the current Range Rover. It’s conceived as a seven-seater, although it will also be available in a six-seat layout, complete with two individual centre-row seats.
The car was previewed by a concept at the Los Angeles Auto Show back in 2021 and the production model sticks pretty closely to that vehicle’s lines.
The roof is a little lower, because the EV9 sits on slightly smaller 21-inch wheels, plus the concept’s rear-hinged back doors have been replaced by more conventional items, and there’s less ground clearance, courtesy of a proper floor that’s now thick enough to contain the battery pack. But the overall profile of the finished production car looks remarkably similar. The front features a fresh interpretation of Kia’s family grille, adapted for the greater height of this model compared with the EV6.
Kia’s designers say that the phrase ‘tiger face’ needs to replace the ‘tiger grille’ that featured on combustion-engined cars, since the EV9 doesn’t have a grille at all. There’s a framed body-coloured panel, and at either side of it, laser-etched areas of the body will allow patterns of LED light to filter through; users will be able to choose these designs through the infotainment system.
The daytime running lights at either side of the ‘tiger face’ are intricate vertical items inspired by star constellations, meanwhile; Kia calls them ‘star maps’ and says that they will be a feature on subsequent models.
The car’s bodywork includes a mixture of treatments. Some of the largest panels are extremely clean; the bonnet itself has no power dome like you’d find on a combustion-engined vehicle. But in line with Kia’s design philosophy of contrast, while the main flanks have only gentle curves, the adjoining shoulders are created by huge, brutal squared-off wheelarches, flared out through edgy triangular motifs. These give the car a strong, chunky look, almost like a Tonka toy.
The company has already confirmed that as part of its ‘Plan S’ strategy, it will develop a high-performance EV9 GT, to sit above the 577bhp EV6 GT in its portfolio. The EV9 should land in Kia’s UK showrooms in the autumn, with first deliveries expected right at the end of this year.
Q&A with Karim Habib
Head of Design, Kia
Q :This is a very different-looking car from the EV6. Are you abandoning that design in favour of this new approach?
A: “I wouldn’t say that. We’ve tried to develop a design philosophy. So while there might be certain principles that will be repeated on other cars, the execution and the ways of doing it can be different. The EV6, for example, is more of a driver-focused car, while this EV9 is a bit more about the living space – a bit more family-oriented.”
Q: This is still very clearly an SUV, though, and there’s still an enormous front boot where the engine would have been. Why does it need to have a ‘conventional’ profile?
A: “I guess there are a few factors to that. First, there’s a sort of authenticity to it. Cars like old Land Rover Defenders are boxy but honest. There’s a sense of functionality to it, too – to having these old panels that weren’t even stamped, back in the day. I guess we just wanted to tap into that.
“Then the second point is a simple usability aspect. The third row of this car has great headroom and knee room. We wanted the cabin to deliver that, and that meant very upright rear glass.
“And finally, EV SUVs are all trying to be super-sleek. We just wanted to not try to do that, while still aiming for the sort of aerodynamic efficiency that would get us the range we want. I’m proud that we’ve been able to achieve that.”
Q: Can you explain what makes this car look more upmarket compared with the EV6? We wouldn’t say luxurious, but it does have that feel of something that will be positioned above it.
A: “I wouldn’t use that word either. Or ‘premium’! But there is an aspirational quality to our products now, I think.
“I could point to a few things that show our evolution as a brand. There’s the amount of technology you get for the price; I don’t know if there’s any brand that does that as well as we do. So if you look at the lighting on this car and others, as an example, it’s pretty amazing – the quality, the precision.
“But I think the most important thing might be that electric vehicles have given us access to proportions that in the past were maybe not available to manufacturers like us. If you look at the wheel-to-body proportions, the long wheelbase, short overhangs, these are things that were maybe not part of our domain in the past. They’re more accessible to our engineers with EVs. And when you have them, you don’t have to resort to any tricks of design, or the sorts of embellishments that tend to age quickly.”
Q: What caught us by surprise, even after the preview concept, is how much of a jump from the EV6 you’re making here. This is only the second in the EV series of models; should we then expect a similar amount of progression every time you introduce new cars after this?
A: “I don’t think each one will be as different as these two, no. It’s probably not the correct word, but you can almost think of them as bookends. We want to build the brand and we need consistency in that, we need them to be recognisable.
But at the same time, we make almost three million cars per year, right? And with different typologies for different markets, different products with different use cases. So our cars can’t all be out of the same mould.”
For an alternative view, see our sister site Driving Electric’s coverage of the Kia EV9