At the end of next week, the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show will open its doors at the Los Angeles Convention Center, bringing to the West Coast all the newest goodies in the automotive industry. Granted, many of them have already been presented at this fall's previous auto shows, but at least one is brand new: the 2027 Kia Telluride.
That would be the second generation of the American-built South Korean midsize SUV, arriving six years after the original one broke cover wearing the name of a Colorado town. A new version that, while keeping true to some extent to the original one, is at the same time significantly different.
The new SUV is a Telluride true and true, first and foremost, thanks to its boxy shape, carried over from the previous generation. In some sense, it looks a bit uglier than it used to be, but that's not by mistake, but by design.
Kia wanted this thing to cause controversy and become the talk of the town, and many will go to great lengths to discuss what makes it different from the current version, visually speaking, and why, to some of them, the new design is not as great as it used to be.
Yet, the SUV stays unmistakably Telluride, and that was the whole purpose of the upgrade, as the new generation will soon take its place at the top of Kia's SUV range, at least the one it sells in the United States.
Kia calls the 2027 Telluride an evolution rather than a reinvention, and in no other aspect is that more obvious than when it comes to its dimensions. The vehicle now rides on a wheelbase that's 3 inches longer than before, so it is now 2.3 inches longer overall. Separately, its height grew by 1 inch.
The numbers are not all that spectacular in themselves, but when put together, they conspire to make the Telluride significantly more imposing than ever before. Especially when you couple the new dimensions with the design upgrades made to the bodywork.
Supposedly meant to remind people of the spirit of the Rocky Mountains, the SUV carries up front a large hood with clean, straight lines, and vertical headlamps to either side of that, framing a high-gloss grille that boasts precision patterns.
On the sides, the list of new features includes new floating wheel cladding and flush door handles, the likes of which Kia already uses on the EV6 and EV9. Finally, the back is straight and clean, pure American, if you will, with only two vertical lights disturbing the peace. Just like in the front, the fender shows triangular creases.
As far as the interior goes, Kia went for the same design approach, dominated by straight lines and soft curves. The amount of space available there, especially when it comes to the second and third row of seats, has increased thanks to the larger dimensions of the SUV, but Kia does not say for now by how much.
One key aspect of the SUV is yet to be revealed by the South Korean carmaker: exactly what kind of powertrains will be on the table for the new Telluride. We know we'll be dealing with internal combustion engines, but we do not know the exact extent of the lineup.
As it is available in 2025 model year guise, the Telluride is offered with a single engine choice, the 3.8-liter V6 that delivers 291 horsepower and 262 lb.-ft. of torque. The unit is on the table with these specs on all 10 trim levels that are presently offered.
Speaking of trim levels, Kia has yet to confirm the exact 2027 lineup, but it did release images of the Telluride SXP (check the gallery for that) and some details surrounding the Telluride X-Pro, which, for the time being, seems to be the star of the lineup.
Just like all other X-series models in Kia's lineup, the X-Pro adopts a dark appearance, with blacked-out wheel arches, side mirrors, beltline trim, and D-pillars. The front bumper is black as well, sitting beneath a mesh-type grille.
This version is equipped with raised roof rails and all-terrain tires wrapped over blacked-out wheels (which can be sized 18-, 20-, and 21-inches for the 2027 model year) that contribute to giving the SUV a ground clearance of 9.1 inches. As a bonus, Kia equipped the X-Pro with standard recovery hooks on both ends.
Another unique feature of this specific model is the light show the SUV puts on around itself: light projects from the rearview mirrors, beneath the rear doors, and from the rear bumper; there is light coming from the raised tailgate, and even puddle lamps that spell out the name Telluride on the ground.
Kia will be introducing a series of new colors for the range, including Blackberry and the revised Deep Navy with Tuscan Umber for the interior, and Black Jade Green and Terrain Brown for the exterior.
The South Koreans say the 2027 Telluride will become available in the first quarter of 2026. Pricing was not announced, but I'll remind you that the present versions sell from $36,390.