Is this the new face of luxury motoring?
Kia could be about to dip a toe into the shark-infested waters of the executive saloon segment with a V8-powered rear-drive saloon.
During a speech at a recent design conference in Soeul Kia's design boss, Peter Schreyer, showed these sketches. According to Korean mag AboutCAR, who broke the story, they are early sketches of the K9, a large exec based on the Hyundai Genesis platform.
That is a strong possibility - sister company Hyundai's Genesis saloon has been a surprise hit in the crucial US market, both with the critics and in sales terms.
Hyundai Genesis has been a surprise US hit
But such a dramatic move upmarket would be a big jump for Kia, and taking on established names like BMW, Merc and Lexus in their own territory would be an incredibly ambitious move.
More likely is that the image is an early sketch of next year's Mondeo-sized Kia K7, known as the Cadenza in the US market and aimed at the lower end of the large executive saloon market (a kind of modern Korean version of a Vauxhall Omega, except front-wheel drive).
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