Kia Mohave SUV gets tougher

Official images and info on the updated Kia Mohave – a Korean-market large seven-seat SUV – reveal a more mature look for the brand's Toyota Prado competitor.

But before you get too excited about the big seven-seat towing rig, which is powered by a stump-pulling 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine (191kW/560Nm), it's unlikely to be sold here.

The Kia Sorento will be renewed in 2021 and will continue as Kia's flagship SUV in this country.

Although Kia Australia would love to have the slab-sided, butch-looking Mohave in Aussie showrooms, it's almost certainly not going to happen – at least in this current generation.

"It is the right sort of platform, a ladder-chassis platform, and it has a solid tow capacity," Kia Australia spokesman Kevin Hepworth told carsales.com.au.

"But unfortunately it is only available in left-hand drive."

Australia is a right-hand drive car market, which rules out anything built only in left-hand drive.

Heading to Korean showrooms from September, the new-look Kia Mohave is a spitting image of the Mohave Masterpiece concept car shown at the Seoul motor show back in March.

The chunky exterior design features a bold visage starting with a rugged take on the tiger-nose grille, bookended by dramatic headlight clusters populated with large LEDs.

The squared-off design and pumped wheel arches provide the Kia Mohave a masculine look and while some elements have remained unchanged, such as the doors and windows, the rear end features a new bumper section with integrated quad exhaust tips and redesigned LED tail-lights.

Riding on 20-inch alloy wheels, the big Korean SUV comes with a good selection of standard features, such as a powered tailgate, lane departure warning, autonomous emergency braking, heated/cooled front seats, automatic high-beam dipping and a 360-degree surround-view camera system to make parking easier.

Kia has done a number on the cabin too, the latest images showing a significantly more sophisticated look and feel headlined by a Scandinavian-esque dashboard design.

The simple, flowing lines of the dash are punctuated by a large infotainment touchscreen and the analogue instrument panel has been replaced by a 12.3-inch digital screen. The gearshifter has been updated and there's a 15-speaker Lexicon stereo, too.

Billed as a serious off-road machine akin to the Prado, the Kia Mohave also has several drive modes, including comfort, eco and sport for the road and sand, snow and mud for the challenging stuff.

The Mohave was previously sold in North America as the Borrego.

While the Kia Mohave large SUV has Buckley's chance of coming to Australia in its current guise, Kia is eyeing off other off-road vehicles on the horizon, including a ladder-chassis dual-cab ute.

Kia has confirmed it first ute will be tuned for Australian conditions.