Kia upgrades its answer to the Toyota Prado

Kia has launched a fresh teaser campaign for the facelifted 2023 Kia Telluride SUV, ahead of its full reveal early next week.

The upgraded Toyota Prado-rivalling large SUV is set for its  world debut on April 13 at the New York motor show, where the revised eight-seater will be unveiled alongside its updated sibling, the 2023 Hyundai Palisade.

But unlike the Palisade, which has been on sale Down Under since late 2020 with front-drive petrol V6 and all-wheel drive diesel powertrains, the closely-related Kia Telluride still won’t be offered in Australia despite local Kia Australia execs previously showing interest in the Prado rival.

That’s because there are still no plans for the big SUV to be manufactured in right-hand drive, meaning Aussies still won’t get a piece of the 2020 World Car of the Year-winning SUV.

For MY23, the US-market Telluride will bring revised headlights, each with a pair of vertically placed LED daytime running lights (DRL).

The teaser shots also reveal a heavily revised cabin, tipped to be filled with a host of new tech. 

As we can see from the second rendered teaser image, Kia’s largest SUV is set to offer an integrated instrument cluster and infotainment screen display, as seen in top-spec versions of other Kia models sold overseas.

That means instead of a separate screen for the driver’s display and central touch-screen, the two screens appear to be joined together on a single panel, giving the visual effect that there’s one ultra-wide screen.

A new off-road focussed X-Pro trim is also set to join the 2023 Kia Telluride line-up in the US, bringing all-terrain tyres, selectable off-road drive modes (including snow settings), and all-wheel drive as standard.

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