The all-new Kia K7 spied again…
Spies have once again caught a heavily camouflaged prototype of Kia‘s near-future flagship sedan. Codenamed VG, the prototype has been caught while driving through a heavy traffic in one of the crowded Korean cities.
As we already know, the Korean-market VG sedan is going to become the very first Kia to adopt the brand’s new alphanumeric nomenclature system. When the model reaches to production it is going to be named the Kia K7.
The all-new Kia K7 will retain sporty and emotional look of the KND-5 concept car. The model will sport many attractive exterior design elements, including Kia’s beautiful signature grille, and will be equipped with a plethora of advanced safety technologies and luxury features.
Those will include a heated steering-wheel, along with ventilated driver’s seat with the ability to extend its seating surface, front and rear parking assistance system, rear-view camera, navigation system, tire pressure warning system, panoramic sunroof and lane departure system – first time in a Kia vehicle).
Inside, the all-new Kia K7 will also feature LED lightning, while LED technology is also expected to be incorporated to K7′s headlights, as well as tail-lamps.
The power will be supplied to front wheels with a range of four-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines, including a 280-hp, 3.5L Lambda II V6 and 2.4L four-cylinder unit. According to latest rumours a 2.7L LPi engine (using LPG fuel) will be available as well, while later, Kia could also introduce a diesel-powered K7 sedan. Both, manual and automatic transmissions with six speeds will be available.
The K7 is set to be unveiled for the first time this November, while making its foreign debut at one of the international motor show next year.
UPDATE: A friend of ours informed us about the very first shots of a production-ready and completely undisguised Kia K7! Check out the pics here
October 15th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I really like the features list. I dont think even GEnesis has Lane-Departure warning. really loving this car now. and looking at that undisguised image, i dont mind the grille cuz of the chrome.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
if they HU pics are real it’s a bit of a disappointment
like that suzuki kizashi it’s just a little too staid and ordinary
i’m sure it’s a decent car but it strikes me as too conservative… contrast to the new hyundai sonata which is a bit more daring
October 15th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
RE: K7 completely undisguised— WOW! it looks like something BMW would make. not Kia. i love it. i can’t wait to drive one. cliff’s note: i also like that they’re putting the logo on the hood instead of the grille. little difference but a nice touch.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Kia should unveil the VG in a better color than silver. Also, they may want to put some sportier looking wheels on. I think those simple fixes will help keep the car from looking too “staid and ordinary.” I think the greatness of this car is going to be in the details, though, anyway.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Well, these are leaked images of the Kia VG and not official unveiling, which is scheduled for November.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
The front end makes it look already outdated.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
You’re getting wrong impression I guess, and should wait to see more pics to make final decission. I bet you’ll like the car
October 15th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
It looks alright. It’s not a breakthrough design but it’s alright from what I see so far. I’ll wait to see more pictures and the panoramic roof in production and the interior before I really know if this car looks good or not.
October 16th, 2009 at 2:30 am
I’ve seen the car without camo and it’s a very classy car with a hint of sporty. As Boris said the K7 has more options than the Genesis. That should answer the question weather Hyundai spends the money of Kia development.
October 16th, 2009 at 4:29 am
I’m suprised about this having more features than the Genesis. This car is going to rock and I can’t wait to see more pictures of this. I’m sure it’s going to be a great car. I’m just not sure if this is going to be cheap with all that raw material in that car. I’m sure Kia paid a lot of venders like Sirius radio and some brand named navagation company and where ever they purchase leather seats from and Good year tires and and ordering extra glass to create the sky lights. They have to pay their labor and overhead. They have to pay the light company and gas bill and the testers and the designers. So how on earth is this going to be cheap? I don’t know how long because they still must make a profit somehow.
October 16th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Hmm, maybe I got a little to carried away. But I’m curious to find out is how can Kia manage to sell a car like this for less than it rivals?
October 16th, 2009 at 4:59 am
well, prices of the jap cars are going up too, so if Kia’s prices increase, it will still be below the jap competition.
October 16th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Please say they willbring this to the UK it is awsome! Will certanly make people think twice about buying that Audi of BMW It looks like it can take they on no problem, Watch out Germany the Korean’s have a secreat weapon on the excecutive car. Its the K7.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
jtz,
One thing they have right now going for them is a weak Won. That helps out in export markets. Also, someone said on another site that Korea has much cheaper electricity than Japan because the latter went so heavily with nuclear. I haven’t vetted that claim, however. Well, about the nuclear part. But S Korea does have around half the cost than Japan per kilowatthour. Also, they seem to find other ways to cut cost without cutting function.
October 17th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Derrick G, they have the largest automated robotic car factory in the world
, also they got plenty of cheap (slave labor) IMPORTED from South East Asia (which is actually a huge problem in their country, but oh well… it’s like US with Hispanic illegal workers, except there it’s semi-wanted) =)
Anyways, I heard my Korean-American friend say that Kia is going to sell this in Korea with equivalent won/dollar of approximately 27000 dollars starting… Which means we will probably get it for 25000 dollar base here
…
October 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
When I was at the plant all I saw was Koreans in Korea. They have a pretty strict foreign worker law. Plus you would need to know the language to get by there..
October 17th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Kyle,
I knew they were heavily automated; I also knew they have the highest car/worker ration in the world. But the slave labor? Get off it. They also have one of the strongest labor unions around. Militant is how some describe it. They even shut down the Tuscson iX line over how many workers it takes. And we’re supposed to believe they sit idly by while slaves are imported?
Yes, S Korea as a whole does have many illegals working in smaller and medium size companies and yes many are mistreated, but I cannot find any credible evidence this is how HKAG achieves lower labor cost.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:49 am
On Kia Buzz.com, if you click on the photo of this car, they are calling it the Kia Candenza.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:13 am
I guess that’s the it is going to be called outside Korean markets.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:16 am
Opps I spelled it wrong it’s is spelled Cadenza.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:14 am
The Kia Cadbury. Isn’t Cadbury a Canadian candy bar maker? Not to drive too far off topic, but, isn’t it?
October 19th, 2009 at 12:02 am
After looking up the definition, it seems a little better, but overall Cadenza seems a bit on the cutesy side. Still, nice effort otherwise.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:28 am
Cadbury is a British candy maker, and this car looks like a Cadenza. Cadenza sounds elegant and classy.
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This is supposed to replace the Amanti in the US market, so why Im I getting conflicting reports that it will slot in between the Amanti and Optima in other Markets?
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Derrick youre so right about the labor movements over there. They might start building Aceents in Brazil becuase of the many Accent Factory strikes in Korea.
October 19th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Because the CH is the real Amanti replacement. The only reason the Cadenza is replacing the Amanti in the US market is because the Amanti is harder to sell than a used Festiva.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Yet the everyday used ’88 Ford Festiva looks about 10 times nicer than the pertiest Chevy Sprint you could find, huh?
November 6th, 2009 at 4:35 am
The difference is that I can find a Festiva, I haven’t seen a Sprint since ’03.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:48 am
Whats wild about the Festiva comment is that KIA Built that too. It was a First Gen KIA Rio (Pride), as the first 2 iterartions of the KIA Pride were sold in Korea and developing markets as Prides and everywhere as Festivas.
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The came the KIA Rio/Pride that came to the US in 2001.