Kia EV9 sheds its camouflage ahead of 2023 debut

Two years ago, Kia unveiled the EV9 Concept at the Los Angeles Auto Show. With such a stylish exterior design and a lounge-like interior, we really hoped the production version will just be as eye-catching as the concept. And true enough, our wishes may have been granted.

The production-spec version of the EV9 was spotted driving around the streets of Chile. And for the first time, the fully-electric SUV was seen in its undisguised form.

While the leaked video had somewhat VGA camera quality, the production EV9 looks like it has mirrored a lot of the concept version's design characteristics. That includes the boxy silhouette, the L-shaped headlights, and the Y-shaped taillights. In fact, the EV9 seems to have better proportions than the concept version.

As expected, the suicide doors and the non-existent B-pillar of the concept did not make it into production, as it would have been a nightmare for engineers to make the EV9's chassis pass strict structural integrity tests.

The Kia EV9 is underpinned by the E-GMP platform used by Hyundai Group's award-winning EVs, the Ioniq 5, the Ioniq 6, and the Kia EV6. While official power figures have not been released yet, we won't be surprised if it will share the same 77.4 kWh lithium-ion battery pack with the EV6. In terms of electric range, it should come close to the EV6's estimate of 528 km.

Now that the EV9 has already shed its camouflage, we could expect the full-size EV SUV's official debut to happen soon.