A few months before its debut in production form at
the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, the Kia Telluride was previewed by a slew of
off-road concepts at SEMA. Most people didn’t take them seriously, focusing instead on trying to
undress the studies to see what the production version would look like.
However, there could me more to those concepts, as either an off-road oriented
trim level or related accessories could
become available for the eight-seater SUV.
The information was confirmed to MotorTrend, which
asked the Telluride’s designer Tom Kearns at NAIAS about such a possible
variant, and got a very interesting answer. “I can’t really speak to that right
now, but we’re definitely interested in something along those lines, either a
trim level or accessories in the future”, he said.
Features such as the largee off-road tires,
snorkels, auxiliary lights, skid plates, roof racks and bull bars, among
others, could soon become either optional extras on certain Tellurides, or form
an entirely new trim level – you know, for when you want to take the kids on a
rather muddy adventure in your new Kia SUV.
MT also asked Kia North America COO, Michael Cole,
whether the company could use the Stinger GT’s 365 hp twin-turbo 3.3-liter V6,
but that won’t happen as it’s too difficult to modify the
longitudinal engine for transverse duty on the crossover. Thus, the Telluride
will only be available with the 3.8-liter V6, rated at 291 hp and 355 Nm of torque. The unit works in conjunction with an 8-speed
auto, which channels the output to the standard FWD or optional AWD.
