First Look: 2027 Kia Telluride

2nd Era Will get Larger, Bolder, Proudly Boxy

On October 28, 2025, Kia opened the doorways to its Irvine Design Middle to the automotive media for a preview of the much-anticipated second era Telluride, its very profitable three-row midsize SUV. The expertise included two show automobiles and shows by Kia’s President Sean Yoon and its Vice President and Senior Chief Designer Tom Kearns.

The brand new Telluride design is “greater, bolder and nonetheless proudly boxy,” as Kia describes it. It’s additionally the results of worldwide cooperation. Irvine-based designers defined to Clear Fleet Report how the 2027 Telluride’s design course of was completed between California and South Korea via use of digital conferences and 3-D goggle know-how. Again within the bodily world, a designer sculpted supplies within the studio on a mannequin to show the bodily design means of bringing ideas to life.

Yoon acknowledged that the brand new design of the Telluride is predicated on Kia’s “opposites united” design philosophy. Kearns defined that the second-generation Telluride introduces options that prospects didn’t even know they wished–mentioning progressive sliding storage compartments and animated welcome lights as examples.

Notable new exterior design options of the brand new Telluride are the squared high-gloss entrance grille with vertical headlamps, flush door handles, rear bumper extending all the way down to the wheels, three added inches in size, and sq. cutout notches above the wheels. All of those new options purposely echo the “boxy” and “chiseled” design idea for the car, contrasting from the primary era’s rounded design parts.

New Off-Street Version

Kia additionally departed from the primary gen design of the Telluride by subjecting the brand new version to off-road testing so {that a} trail-ready trim degree, the X-Professional, can be a part of the lineup. It’s going to have a beneficiant 9.1 inches of floor clearance.

Kia confirmed two new Tellurides’ trim ranges, the off-road X-Professional and the extra luxurious SXP.

The Telluride’s inside was designed to be a “dreamer’s sanctuary,” with extra room, upgraded seats, built-in hand grips within the middle console and engineered carbon fiber and wooden trim choices obtainable in a wide range of configurations and colours. The brand new steering wheel on the X-Professional is formed with a flattened high and backside.

Kia confirmed a camouflaged SXP mannequin; the unadorned SXP, which we now have up high, can be revealed subsequent week on the Los Angeles Auto Present.

4 trim ranges can be provided for mannequin yr 2027, with manufacturing set to begin subsequent yr.

The car continues to be within the testing section for engine, transmission and suspension parts, so particulars aren’t at present obtainable. Check mules have been noticed in Irvine since August within the space round Kia’s Design Middle.

The world premiere of the brand new Telluride can be on the Los Angeles Worldwide Auto Present subsequent week, on November 20.

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Story by Michele Spencer. Pictures by Michele Spencer and Kia.