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UPDATE: Kia K900 revealed, first in leaked shots, now in official photos

We have been posting sketches and teaser images of the upcoming Kia K900 sedan, but photos of the real thing are already available in South Korea. Some presentation slides of the car, wearing the name "K9" (that's what it's called over there), are now online on Kia's own website and in the photo gallery above. The restrained appearance conveyed in the sketches is present in the final car. There's still something German about it, with detail choices reflecting current BMW and Mercedes offerings: The front grille is certainly about as big as BMW 7-series' kidneys these days. The lights' LED accents are clearly visible in all photos. Fitting the car with real-life wheels definitely makes it lose something striking that the sketches had, but that is the case with all concept design sketches. The interior ambience depicted in the penned sketch has translated well to the photograph-like render: it will be interesting to see how the promised mood lighting modes will affect the interior. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Earlier, screenshots of the slideshow have made it online on a Korean motoring site, as well as this "Job #1" style photo taken at a manufacturing facility. They showed March 20th as a date for the online unveiling, and the K9 microsite came online today. Kia has also published this commercial of the new car on YouTube. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Kia announced that the car will be shown officially at the New York International Auto Show, but the date on the slideshow already promises something, perhaps local, for tomorrow. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 Kia K900 official images Spy Photos Kia Luxury Sedan kia k900

Kia confirms Cub "four-door coupe" concept for Seoul

Kia has announced it is headed to the Seoul Motor Show with a new sedan concept. Details are still scarce, but the Kia CUB Concept should be small, at under 13 feet long and come with coupe-like proportions. Kia wants the vehicle to "appeal to trend-setting urban dwellers," a notoriously car-hungry market. The automaker says the Cub has a cheerful face decorated with two-point LED headlamps just like those found on the Quoris flagship, but the teaser image above looks a bit more sinister than happy to us. Kia plans to give the Cub a proper unveiling on March 28.
Hyundai has also given us a glimpse at what the company has planned for Seoul with its HND-9 luxury sports coupe. You can refresh yourself on that machine by checking out the post here. You can also take a closer look at the brief press release below.

2020 Toyota Highlander vs other 3-row crossovers: There can only be one!

We've done quite a few spec comparison posts involving three-row family crossovers, and when included, the Toyota Highlander has always been the runt of the group. While the rest increasingly seemed to be benchmarking each other toward greater girth, the Highlander was the outlier.  That changes a bit for the 2020 Toyota Highlander, but only a bit. It's now larger and more competitive, specifically in regards to the amount of cargo space aft of the third-row seat. As you can see below, this aligns the Highlander most closely to its long-time competitor the 2020 Honda Pilot. However, let's see how it stacks up to others in the segment, which is heavily populated now, so for the sake of space, we've selected the newest entries: Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade, Subaru Ascent and Ford Explorer. The order in which they are presented is random.  Performance and fuel economy The 2020 Highlander is more than 200 pounds lighter than its predecessor, but has the same 295-horsepower V6 engine that was already one of the strongest in the segment. We'd say that would give it a leg up, but the Pilot and Explorer have proven to be sprinters, delivering 0-60 times in the low-6 range by some publications' stopwatches (or VBoxes, whatever). We don't expect the Highlander to beat them, but it may dip into the 6's. The heavy, less-powerful Subaru Ascent is most likely to take up the rear. It's fuel economy of 23 mpg combined also matches the Highlander and Explorer for segment-best. Remember, however, that the Explorer's turbocharged inline-four engine is likely more susceptible to differences in driving style (read: a heavy foot).  Of course, if you're really interested in fuel economy, the Highlander and Explorer are the only vehicles in the segment to offer hybrid versions. The Ford Explorer Hybrid puts a greater emphasis on performance, however, resulting in lower estimates of 25 mpg combined (AWD) and 28 mpg combined (FWD). By contrast, the new 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid is estimated to return 36 mpg combined.  Passenger and cargo space According to Highlander chief engineer Yoshikazu Saeki, he had a choice of two directions with the new Highlander. He could have indeed made it bigger, matching these very competitors, especially in terms of third-row and cargo space. Or, he could have maintained a smaller-than-average size. He obviously chose the latter. First, it was the size customers had come to expect. Would they be put off by something bigger?