If it's a flagship, then with an exclamation mark. Kia confidently demands space with the EV9. Steeply rising and falling at the front and rear, an almost horizontal roofline, including a wide band of windows, and Kia's style-defining "tiger nose" is back, framed by vertical headlights reminiscent of constellations. The successful EV6 may have shown the way to the electric future of the Koreans – but it is the 5.01-meter-long SUV that clears it angular and broad-shouldered.

Anna-Lena Niemann

Editor in the "Technology and Motor" department.

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For the recently unveiled production model, there are now also technical details to report. For example, it will be available with either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive and in any case with a battery of at least 99.8 kWh. A smaller battery (76.1 kWh) is also planned for selected markets. The two electric motors together deliver 380 hp (283 kW) and 600 Nm of torque to all four wheels, allowing it to rush to 100 km/h in six seconds. It is more modest with rear-wheel drive, a 150 kW engine and 350 Nm of torque.

Equipped in this way, Kia has a standard range of 514 kilometers, to which a good drag coefficient of 0.28 contributes. Like the relatives of Hyundai and Genesis, the EV9 is based on the Group's E-GMP electric platform. As a result, 800-volt technology is on board, and electricity for 239 kilometers can be recharged in a quarter of an hour. In addition, the family-friendly caliber can earn itself as a rolling power bank, with up to 3.7 kW it charges computers, camping equipment or an e-bike while traveling.

The EV9 offers space in any of the up to seven-seater configurations – even in the third row, 1.80-meter people still hear ample headroom. As a six-seater, for example, the SUV offers individual seats that can be rotated 180 degrees in the middle row.

Meanwhile, no one has to get dizzy when looking at the cockpit. It is tidy and dressed in haptically appealing textile. Touch elements lie on an almost free-standing, narrow screen band. Nevertheless, customers do not have to do without physical buttons.

Kia celebrates its premiere in the EV9 with functions that can be digitally reordered, including a "boost" that screws the torque to 700 Nm, as well as digital lighting effects behind the tiger's nose. For the first time, Kia offers a highway pilot that allows autonomous driving at level 3 in the GT line. Kia has not yet commented on prices. The order books for the big tiger open in the second half of the year.