Kia Debuted the Telluride by Surprise

If you weren’t following the New York Fashion Week show, you might’ve missed the debut of the 2020 Kia Telluride. Kia decided that was the perfect venue to take the wraps off its all-new three-row, full-size SUV, because nothing goes better with Prada than a hulking machine.

Instead of making it look fit for the runway, Kia presented the Telluride with a snorkel, brush guard, auxiliary lights, ladder, sidesteps, custom bumpers, and luggage strapped to it. The roof rack is made of wood and leather, while the door handles and side mirrors are wrapped in leather, all not OEM spec. For good measure, it was plopped into a desert-like scenery and mud was splashed on the SUV, because those fashionistas wouldn’t know what an SUV is for, apparently.

It’s an interesting way to do a reveal. Not only do car reveals usually not happen at fashion shows, the vehicle itself is usually highly polished everywhere and features zero aftermarket treatments.

What we see under all this is an evolution from the concept, which came out about two years ago. The headlights and taillights aren’t quite as harsh, plus the front and rear fascias are more fluid, making the Telluride appear less like a chiseled block of granite on wheels. It’s still pretty big and seats up to eight. Instead of packing a V-8 like you’d expect, the Telluride has a V-6. We’ll see how that works out.

Now the big question is when will we see a non-modified production version of the Telluride?