Kia K9 luxury flagship launched

The good news for Kia is that it looks every bit as good as stablemate Hyundai’s luxury-bid Equus and Genesis sedans.

The bad news for us is that – unlike the Genesis, which is being built in right-hand drive and on the roadmap for Australia – we’re unlikely to get the K9 here. There’s no right-hand drive program and no plan for one.

So why the interest? Because the K9 shows just what Kia can do in its march towards ever-higher quality and better design. Designer Peter Schreyer has given the Kia K9 a sleek profile with a flowing line over the elongated bonnet and through the swept-back A-pillar.

It looks like it’s been polished in a wind tunnel, and the 5090mm body promises a fairly slick 0.27 coefficient of drag. The interior is tasteful, dignified and could pass for a German product -- not surprisingly, given Schreyer’s Audi history and continuing influence at Kia.

Where the Hyundai sibling gets a V8, the K9 carries a 213kW 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine, with a more powerful direct-injected 245kW 3.8-litre V6 to follow towards the end of the year. The K9’s rear wheels will be driven as standard via Kia’s all-new eight-speed automatic transmission, with the joystick controlling a shift-by-wire system.

Four driving modes -- Eco, Normal, Sport and Snow – let you toggle through choices of suspension set-up, steering, engine and transmission response to suit the conditions. Kia claims a 50/50 front-to-rear weight ratio, and the K9 will keep it in line with electronically-controlled air suspension with five-link front and rear system.

Kia is using the K9 to roll out a list of upmarket technology that could well trickle down into other models, including camera-based around-view monitor, adaptive LED headlights and lane departure and blind-spot warning systems.

With all that on board, the Germans and Swedes might soon start benchmarking Koreas cars.