The Kia Telluride is a mighty fine SUV, but what
would it look like if the South Korean automaker decided to make it into a
pickup truck? The following renderings come
from the Kia Telluride Forums and imagine a unibody pickup that would rival
vehicles like the Honda Ridgeline. By basing the vehicle on the Telluride, Kia
would be able to retain the SUV’s powertrain and most of its mechanical
components.
Of course, the third row of seats has been eliminated
in favor of a bed. Admittedly, the one depicted appears to be quite small and
probably wouldn’t be substantial enough to attract a great deal of customers.
However, if this were a true model, it probably would have had a more sizeable
bed.
The actual Telluride is powered by a 3.8-liter V6
that offers up 291 hp and 355 Nm of torque, which is more than
enough to propel the three-row, full-size SUV.
Of course, the biggest question of all is whether or
not Kia will ever build a pickup truck. We know that Hyundai intends on doing
just that with a road-going version of the Santa Cruz Concept and, late last
year, Kia admitted that it could look at producing a pickup, perhaps one to
rival vehicles like the Renault Alaskan, Mercedes-Benz X-Class, and Mitsubishi
L200, although more recently they said that, although it’s an option, their
current focus is on SUVs and sedans instead.
