Kia announced Friday that its upcoming concept, to debut at the North American International Auto Show next week, will be named Telluride — continuing the long, illustrious history of vehicles being named after places in the state of Colorado.
If you buy vehicles based on solely their names and currently own a Chrysler Aspen, this is your next luxury SUV.
Kia teased the large, luxury SUV earlier this week, claiming it will feature “unique in-cabin health-and-wellness technology,” whatever that means. Will it have a collapsible treadmill? A digital personal trainer? A special Bowflex Edition? Who knows?!?!
However, the Korean automaker did give some detail on the interior Friday, saying the Telluride concept will highlight “Kia’s first use of 3D-printed components.”
We’ll know what it all means next week.
Discuss this story on our Kia Telluride Forum
I’d say it’s more in line with Kia and Hyundai vehicles being named after places in the (south)western US. Tucson, Santa Fe, Sedona, Borrego (Anza-Borrego Desert State Park), honorable mention to the short-lived Veracruz.
Indeed. They deviated a little bit with the Sorento, which is named after (a misspelled version of) Sorrento, Italy. Or it could be named after Sorento, Illinois, which *is* spelled with one R, but I doubt it.
Keeping with the southwestern theme, perhaps the Kia Why. Which is a fitting name for any Kia luxury SUV, really, but especially one with “unique in-cabin health-and-wellness technology” and apparent 39-inch rims.
Trims could follow the Soul punctuation theme (+ !) of “Why?”, “Why?!”, and “Why-not?”
Big Kiaphile here. I Like them going upscale. Looks good.
May I ask why, in a non sarcastic way?
Kia and Hyundai still have issues with resale value. It doesn’t make since to buy any of their vehicles, much less a luxury vehicle. They have improved quality, but it will take time for the market to respect that. They are also really big in fleet sales. Toyota can get a pass for that, but the Koreans can’t until they improve resale values. I have no doubt that they can do that eventually, but if you buy a luxury Hyundai or Kia, you better hope to keep it a long time. You are not going to get Lexus, BMW, MB, trade in value.
Some people don’t care about resale or trade in, obviously if they keep their vehicles a long time. A friend and I just went shopping for her new vehicle, budget <$45k. Audi, Lexus, Benz, Subaru, Fiat, Acura….we were all over the place. She finally chose a Sonata Hybrid. With the Ultimate package, it put the interiors of all the others to shame.
Her trade was a 2000 Infiniti, so obviously she's not worried about resale.
Long term owners of Hyundais and Kias are still finding out that there are reasons for the low resale and gotchas to the warranties.
I wouldn’t know about any “gotchas” as I never once had to use either the bumper to bumper or the 10 year 100k powertrain warranty (I hit 100k in 9 years). I can’t say that about any other car I’ve ever owned. Fluid changes, brake pads and a set of rotors, valve adjustments, and a timing belt and water pump. One of the front speakers just went out though so maybe that is your gotcha.
My friend’s ’09 sonata was fine, up until about 100k when things started cropping up. Door handle broke in the cold, power locking failed on a rear door, coolant started to disappear somewhere, transmission control module left him immobilized one day, fuel pump crapped out, rear suspension needed some work (control arm bushings?). This has been in the span of about 100-120k miles. This gen sonata also has a habit of rotting sub frames rapidly. It’s a shame, as I prefer the interior materials and comfort on his Hyundai to a similar vintage Camry.
I question the success of any “upscale” Kia in the market. And really, who ever bought an Aspen?
60,000 people. 60,000 people bought the Chrysler Aspen.
I haz a sad x 60,000.
At least there remains no confusion that when you say you owned an Aspen – Dodge or Chrysler, people know you owned a tepid, junky MOPAR product.
Aspen LIMITED – stare at jeweled lugjury backlit gauges from your cloth-trimmed seat and feel the rumble of a 4.7l V8 turning those Dakota-spoked 17s.
Subprime Sexy.
Do you have any entertaining used car stories to regale us with about the Aspen, sir?
Like the ’08 Aspen ‘LIMITED’ I bought with 68k miles from an auction in North Florida that allegedly passed a post-sale inspection but then had a muffled rod knock?
Yeah, went back and forth two weeks with the auction GM, their mechanic, and their fleet manager on that one. End of story – I had to eat the car. Completely unsellable, too. At least for retail.
It sat for weeks and weeks because I literally had no idea what I should do – bite the bullet and fix the motor for $1500-2500 and end up with an cloth-trimmed Aspen that I’m now buried in or just run it at the local auction and take my loss.
I have my detailer glitz it up, get a nice used set of tires (hey, its wholesale!), pinstripe it, trim up a few odds and ends, and ship it to Tampa. First week I run it, I run it Green/Yellow and announce ‘engine noise.’ I’m in the car for ~$11,000 hard money at the time.
Auctioneer starts it low…
“9500, 95, 95, 95, 9-grand, 8-grand, 7-grand…”
Boom. Action.
“72, 74-hundo, 76, 78, 8-grand…”
All the way to $8,800. Its now between a live bidder on the floor and someone online. It ends at $8,800. I’m looking down at my sheet while the auctioneer calls out “Take eleven-eight, bud” to try to move the live bidder up to my written floor price – maybe to high-9s or low-10s. Again, I’m looking down, scribbling ‘NO SALE’ on my run sheet knowing I’m too far away from selling it while concentrating at my next cars coming up when I hear…
“SOLD! $11,8! buyer [whatever his bidder numer is]”
I snapped up, eyes wide open…holy s**t!
Guy comes up to me on the block and asks, “What’s the yellow light?”
“Motor noise,” I shout.
“Oh…f**k, they all sound like that! Thanks!” and walks away.
So…moral of the story is…don’t buy a black Aspen Limited with ~68k miles from anywhere in Kentucky.
See, that was a good story! I like reading things like that – I have zero experience in the auto sales sector.
Thx.
Nice!
This is the stuff I miss.
Pretty much every single car I have touched has some weird backstory to it, like the ’11 Maxima Sport I’m demo’ing right now that was apparently shot 3-4 times with a high-caliber handgun.
You and I have to have a long talk.
“60,000 people. 60,000 people bought the Chrysler Aspen”
Edited….”60,000 made the mistake of buying an Aspen”
“I question the success of any “upscale” Kia in the market. And really, who ever bought an Aspen?”
I did, back in 1979. A much better car than what Daimler decided to call an ‘Aspen’.
The thing is KIA understands many people have switched over from over priced Japanese products and buggy temperamental German brands to KIA. The Telluride should help take many from Lexus and wannabe Infiniti brand. The interior looks awesome.
The irony of labeling Infiniti as “wannabe” when praising a luxury Kia…
The Telluride interior does remind me of the new A4 interior if reimagined by a kindergartner.
That seems like a rather convoluted name for a vehicle. But I like where it’s going. If it’s longitude-engined and has a nice AWD system, Kia could wind up giving you the substance and luxury of an X5 or GLE-Class for a fraction of the cost.
I’m not sure the name will go over well, either. It’s very corny sounding, and a bit too long. One too many syllables.
Five to seven letters -like Durango for instance- is plenty.
TELLURIDE at nine is really pushing it. I can think of one other vehicle name currently which is as long as that. Discovery. But that never sounded corny.
Hyundai Entourage – 9 – another successful HK venture.
Obviously the Entourage was a flop, but its cousin the Sedona was pretty successful. I’ve never understood why the ‘underling’ Kia succeeded where the Hyundai failed.
Our 09 Sedona has been great.
Escalade.
Continental.
Imperial.
Impala.
Malibu.
Montero.
Riviera.
Yeah; too many syllables.
Well, Escalade is one less letter, and the others haven’t been in production for years.
Um Impala is still in production and Continental going into production…
Lol, he’s revised his comment like 4x.
Hey so where’s my Cadillac for that 4.9 blasphemy the other day. Something about Cadillacs have been junk from 1993-2012 when in fact they have all been junk from 1996 to present? Hmmmmm Deacon Corey?
I was only considering the N* as the worst of it!
Soothe yourself with this, which I’d probably have bought if it were for sale when I was lookin.
http://muncie.craigslist.org/cto/5389698540.html
*Mouth drops wide open*
Fleetwood. Robin’s egg blue in true late 80s fashion. Landau roof. Wheel skirts. Whitewalls 4.5. Ummmmmm.
.
.
.
I’m actually quite proud of you, Corey. Well at least when I’m not plotting against you…
It’s 2500, get it! It’s fantastic!
I already have too many dependents and no room for one more.
Just once, and Continental – a really crummy, complicated name, was among the first three I listed.
One name that really annoys: Banff. Stop spelling already. It’s exhausting.
Land Rover. Range Rover. Ridgeline. Phantom Drophead Coupe.
Countryman. California. Terrible names.
Wait, are we doing terrible names?
Every KIA name save maybe Optima which is clever.
Sentra
Versa
ATS
CTS
SRX
XTS
MKZ
MKwhateverelse
Convoluted, Kyree? It’s a venerated , traditional, American place name. Evocative of the West, the Rockies, fresh air, downhill skiing, fly fishing. Lots of hearty outdoor wilderness activities.
Could’ve been worse…what about Kia Keystone? Or Kia Steamboat Springs?
I like the Kia Truth or Consequences, if’ns we don’t have to stay in Colorado.
Kia Toad Suck (Arkansas)!
I thought instead of nomenclature, you were referring to the grand tradition of short-lived H/K largish SUVs like the Veracruz and Borrego.
So when is the Kia Kannabis koming?
Will sell like gangbusters.
It can run on hemp ethanol like Ford’s 1930’s hemp car and will guarantee that you will have stoners following your exhaust wherever you go.
Wiki say telluride minerals comprise the majority of naturally occurring gold compounds. Telluride was never mined in Telluride, CO, which was originally named Columbia but underwent the name change to Telluride so it wouldn’t be confused with Columbia, CA, something that must’ve frequently occurred in the 1880’s West.
So, the car’s body color is a reference to telluride gold that was not mined in Telluride, CO but *was* mined in other places in CO that were not named Telluride.
Kia is therefore launching a “luxury vehicle” named for another, earlier misnomer.
Regarding the unspecified all new health and wellness feature(s); any guesses? Humidity control? Aroma therapy?
Shiatsu seats.
Optional sex doll.
As if Kias don’t have enough of a depreciation problem…
“’17 Kia Telluride. 65K Miles. Good condition. New tires. Comes with optional sex doll with minimal wear and tear.”
I’ll take it!
Right knee “massage” from the 30″ high center console?
I remember the miserable Dodge Aspen sedan in the 70’s was on display in the town of Aspen (I think as part of its introductory PR. As I recall they had a freestyle skier perform an aerial flip over it. It was promptly vandalized.
:)
So many community names here up for grabs . . Carbondale, Grand Junction, Mercedes Meeker, Fruita, Parachute, Longmont, Kremmling, Holyoke, Littleton, Craig, Hot Sulpher Springs, …. all fine names for automotive models!
There’s an old yarn Telluride derived from “to Hell you ride”. Kia should go with that. Chrysler may still have some Dodge Demon decals they could sell Kia.
Yay. Another SUV/CUV coming to market. Forgive me if I’m not overly excited about this.
There’s basically 4 non-lux SUVs on the market, so I wouldn’t be upset if we finally got another option.
Extremely doubtful this will be even close to an “SUV”. Just an enlarged Soul for Lemmiwinks and friends to scoot around in for $60,000.
That’s what I’m thinking, completely crossover.