DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: Kia confirms biggest SUV

Kia has confirmed it will build the longer-than-a-LandCruiser seven-seat Telluride SUV, but the unknown is whether it will be offered in right-hand drive.

If it is, Kia Australia will push hard to add it to its expanding line-up of SUVs Down Under.

Measuring five metres long (the Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series is 4.95m long), the 300kW 3.5-litre V6 plug-in hybrid Telluride concept (pictured) debuted at the 2016 Detroit auto show.

It was the at the same venue in 2018, where Hyundai-Kia chief design officer Peter Schreyer yesterday confirmed it was being turned into a production model.

“For sure, we are working on that car,” Schreyer admitted to a roundtable of Australia media, before batting back other questions about the car, including whether it would be built in right-hand drive.

“I am not aware of that,” he said.

Kia Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith was in no doubt of the vehicle’s suitability for Australia.

“If it is developed in right-hand drive we would look at it very seriously,” he said. “But we are not sure whether that vehicle will be developed in right-hand drive.

“Until we get confirmation of that, that is pure speculation.”

Asked why he was so keen on the Telluride, Meredith said:

“I think if your portfolio of SUVs is empowered at the top-end and at the bottom-end then it’s going to better for the brand and it gives you more opportunities to sell more cars.

“If it is developed in right-hand drive and it is available to the Australian market we’d look at it really, really seriously.”

But even if Kia Australia does miss out on Telluride, Schreyer made it clear there will be more and more SUVs for it to choose from in the future.

“SUVs are still unstoppable and this is why we are working on a lot of SUV theory, concepts and variations.

“You have the high seating positions, it is safe, they make sense … There is demand.”

Speaking at the same roundtable on the same theme, Kia’s European design chief Gregory Guillaume added:

“We have noticed over the last 10 years people moving away from the standard answer. They want something else.

“I think now what’s going to happen in all segments is we are going to look for variations … of bodystyles. I think it is going to go more and more in that direction.

“Just variations, like crossing two dog breeds. You are going to get more and more funny dogs.”