Kia K9 (known as K900 in the overseas markets) flagship luxury sedan facelift prototype was expected to debut between May to June, but while we wait for reveal here you have the first leaked pictures from the facelift of Kia’s flagship sedan. Despite was launched 2 years ago, the pictures showed a pair of K9’s under camouflage caught in a petrol station in South Korea. The second generation K9 (codenamed as RJ) is already available with two V6 gasoline engines, 3.3 Turbo GDi and 3.8 GDi with 370 and 315 hp respectively.
It is also still available with the 5.0 V8
Tau gasoline engine, that delivers 425 hp. The second
gen Kia K900 have suffered low sales around the world. Kia recently
discontinued the K9 in the US-market alongside Cadenza. It is not a surprise
that Kia discontinued this slow selling sedan, but at the same time you need to
know that the enemy is at home, and its called Genesis.
As in these spy pictures the
Kia K9 facelift is covered by camouflage, we cannot say to much about what
changes will have. Looking at the pictures we can expect a massive front and
rear facelift in order to improve the image and change its fate. The facelift
looks more elaborated and extensive than for example the Stinger.
It is still unkown what changes Kia will
make in the powertrain, but as being the flagship model we expect to apply the
latest engines and eco friendly technologies. Will Kia take advantage of this
facelift and include the 3rd gen platform to have Hybrid or Plug-in Hybrid
variants? Apparently not, latest spy shots shows that Kia still uses the 3.8
engine.
The Kia K900 facelift should receive
latest safety pack, as well as new IT system and latest technologies we already
have seen in models like G80. Kia’s new brand image including the new logo is
already included in this prototype. Recently the 2021 K9 was launched in South
Korea, with several updates and a higher quality interior.
