In recent months, several brands have hinted that the days of the traditional SUV – which is to say upright, two-box, fully road-biased and often derided by car enthusiasts – are numbered.
Growing focus on aerodynamic efficiency and sustainability is necessitating a rethink, even as demand for such models surges to unprecedented levels.
Habib takes an open approach: “We will try different things,” he says. “I do think there are more efficient ways of doing space.”
The looming eradication of the transmission tunnel and engine bay enables a totally new approach to interior design, and the cars of the near future theoretically needn’t be the same size and shape to offer comparable utility and comfort.
“I personally believe that you can do really cool vans,” he says, pointing to the rakish, not-for-UK Carnival as a “cool” and “desirable” take on the traditional MPV. Ultimately, though, for Habib it’s not a question of segmentation. Instead: “I think in a world where technological progress needs to be visible.
“If the SUV doesn’t manage to show that, it’s not going to survive. If we manage to create vehicles that are SUVs that do feel like they progress, I think they’re going to survive. So I think that’s more the question than the actual typology itself: what does it symbolise?”
Kia’s design lessons from Land Rover
Kia taking design inspiration from Land Rover? Unthinkable, perhaps, but consider the EV9’s simplistic lines and minimalist cues.
“There’s something really nice about these sorts of authentic, honest, boxy SUVs,” says Habib. “When you look at a Land Rover Defender today, an old or a new one, there’s still something really quite cool about that.”