Fast Facts | 2027 Kia Telluride
📏 Size: +2.3 inches overall vs prior gen
🌄 X-Pro: 9.1-inch clearance, recovery hooks, all-terrain tires
💡 Lighting: Split vertical signatures front and rear
🖥️ Cabin: Triple-screen layout, physical climate rockers, dual wireless charging
🔧 Powertrains (expected): 3.5-L V6; next-gen hybrid with dual MGUs + 6-speed auto
📅 Debut: Nov 20, 2025 (Los Angeles Auto Show)
The end of the 2010s was a hugely important time for South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group. The automaker spun out Genesis as its premium brand, improved its whole lineup both design- and driving-wise, and, along with its sister-brand Kia, broke into the profitable large, three-row SUV segment with the Palisade and Telluride. Earlier this year, the second-generation Palisade arrived in North America, and now it’s Kia’s turn with the Telluride.
The 2027 Kia Telluride will get its full public debut on November 20, 2025, at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which will include more technical details. Ahead of the show, Kia held a preview of the new design at its Los Angeles studio. Here's what we learned:
Opposites United Philosophy
According to Kurt Kahl, chief designer at Kia Design Center America, the new brand philosophy is “opposites united.” The design team aimed to meld “strength with elegance, toughness with sophistication, and innovation with restraint.”
The Telluride has grown 2.3 inches longer overall compared to the outgoing model, and generally has a cleaner, smoother shape than the Palisade while retaining its overall boxiness. The first-generation also had fewer flourishes than the Palisade, and while the new Hyundai has moved in this direction, too, the Kia remains tidier in design. However, leaning into the opposites united theme, it integrates more sharper creases, especially over the fender arches and on the hood.
Lighting signatures have become a key design element in modern vehicles, and the Telluride designers brought forward an element of the original — the twin vertical lamps in the taillights — and built on it. On the first generation, the two vertical red bars were housed in a more traditional taillamp. This time, they're separated by body-colored material, so they appear to stand alone. The same theme is repeated in the front daytime running lamps.
For the debut, Kia will be showing one of the standard street-oriented trims and the more off-road-oriented X-Pro. The X-Pro gets all-terrain tires and a more chunky-looking grille with integrated front recovery hooks, with more at the rear. The ground clearance has been increased to 9.1 inches for improved off-road capabilities. It also gets ground lighting that projects from the side mirror housings, rear doors, and rear bumper to provide a better view of what’s out there when you're moving around the vehicle at night in the wild.
The Cabin
Inside, the Telluride blends some elements of the first-generation along with features from the brand's electric EV9 three-row SUV. Twin displays under a single sheet of glass continue as before, but there's now a third, smaller display between the instrument cluster and the central infotainment area. This has touch controls for climate functions such as defoggers, auto climate, and determining whether air is blowing in the footwell, windshield, or out the front of the dashboard.
Like the EV9, there are also physical rocker switches in the center of the dashboard to adjust temperature for the driver and passenger and to change fan speed and modes. There’s also a center-mounted roller to adjust audio volume.
The console has dual wireless charging pads, as well as the same grab handles that were on the first-generation Telluride, just brought forward. Another detail that debuted on the EV9 and has since been used on the Palisade and Ioniq 9 is the third, fixed stalk on the right side of the steering column. The engine start/stop button is toward the inboard end, near the column, and can be a bit awkward to use at first. Twisting the end of the stalk selects Drive, Neutral, or Reverse with the Park button on the end.
What Drives The Telluride?
While Kia isn’t releasing any technical details of the new Telluride before the LA Auto Show, we can make some educated guesses based on the fact that it almost certainly will share all of its key mechanical features with the new Palisade. The base engine is expected to be the same 3.5-liter gasoline V6 with 287 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. That’s a bit less displacement, and 4 horsepower and 2 lb-ft less than the outgoing model.
Where things get more interesting is the anticipated hybrid powertrain. Assuming that it will be the same offering as the Hyundai, this will be the group’s next-generation hybrid system, which is getting its first application in these large SUVs. The original Hyundai Motor Group hybrid architecture is somewhat unique. It utilized a combination of a belted starter generator (BSG) on the engine with an electric motor-generator unit (MGU) integrated into a relatively conventional automatic transmission. The BSG provided some limited energy recovery capabilities during braking as well as a boost for acceleration, but its main role was to restart the engine.
A clutch between the engine and MGU decoupled during electric drive, coasting, or regenerative braking so the engine could shut down. Using a conventional transmission gave the system a more familiar feeling for drivers than the e-CVT approach used by Toyota and others.
The next-generation hybrid eliminates the BSG and adds a second MGU mated directly to the turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, with the clutch between the two MGUs. This is all integrated into a six-speed automatic transmission. This approach allows for more electrical power as well as running any of several different modes, including Electric Only, Series Hybrid, or Parallel Hybrid.
In Series Hybrid mode, the clutch is disengaged, and the engine drives the first MGU to charge the battery while the second MGU drives the vehicle. In Parallel mode, the clutch is engaged, and the engine and both motors drive the vehicle. During regenerative braking, the clutch is also disengaged, and the engine is shut off, letting the second MGU recharge the battery.
The control software selects the mode based on vehicle speed and load to optimize overall efficiency and performance. This new hybrid system is better suited to large vehicles like the Telluride and should provide significantly better mileage compared to either the new or old V6 engines.
Confirmation of the hybrid and other technical details is expected during the Kia presentation at the LA Auto Show on November 20, 2025.
🔋 Hybrid Muscle for Big Families
- 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid Review
Three-row practicality meets Kia’s latest hybrid system—real efficiency gains for family duty.
Read More ➜ - How Kia and Hyundai Are Managing Heat to Improve EV Efficiency
Thermal smarts that boost range and performance across the group’s electric lineup.
Read More ➜ - Benefits of Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Hybrid basics, efficiency, and ownership perks—perfect context for Telluride’s expected hybrid.
Read More ➜
