Kia's Hyundai Palisade cousin remains shut out of Australia

There’s a new Kia Telluride around the corner, but don’t expect to see it in Australian showrooms.

The Telluride is Kia’s flagship combustion-powered SUV, entering production in 2019 as a cousin to the Hyundai Palisade.

“That’s where Palisade has a little bit of an advantage: Palisade is built in Korea, and Hyundai Australia benefits with that factory in Korea that they can get right-hand drive,” Kia Australia product planning general manager Roland Rivero told CarExpert.

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“I can’t say if there’s any other plans to look at other factories at the moment. My understanding is it’s still out of the Georgia factory in the United States, and that being the case, [it’s] very, very difficult [to get here].”

Kia Manufacturing Georgia produces not only the Telluride but also the Sorento and Sportage SUVs, and will soon build the EV9, too.

Kia Australia, however, sources the EV9, Sorento and Sportage from Korea; it has never sourced any vehicles from the Georgia plant, which opened back in 2009.

Not only has the plant never produced right-hand drive vehicles for our market, it doesn’t even build the Telluride for the Korean domestic market. It does, however, export the Telluride to markets like Canada and the Middle East.

Kia also opted not to produce the large crossover in Korea, leaving the body-on-frame Mohave to serve as its flagship combustion-powered SUV.

Second-generation Telluride prototypes have already been spied testing in the US, wearing similarly bold, boxy styling to the current model.

It’s unclear what changes will be made under the skin, but reports out of Korea have indicated its Palisade cousin will get a pair of new powertrains.

The current 3.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol V6 and 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder will reportedly be replaced with a 2.5-litre turbocharged hybrid four-cylinder and a 3.5-litre turbo-petrol V6.

The current Telluride is offered exclusively with a 3.8-litre naturally aspirated V6. It comes standard with front-wheel drive, with all-wheel drive optional.

Given the smaller Sorento has received hybrid and plug-in hybrid power, it appears likely the Telluride will gain some form of electrification.

Whether the Telluride has more of a global presence with its second generation remains to be seen.

While the Mohave received a substantial update in 2019, it dates back to 2008 and is therefore well overdue for replacement.

That would leave a gap atop Kia’s home-market lineup, unless the company chooses to build an SUV version of its Tasman – something its Australian arm says it would love to sell here.