Prior to its LA Auto Show debut, Kia gave us an early look at the 2027 Kia Telluride!
Over the past several months, Hyundai has worked to launch both gas and hybrid versions of its three-row Palisade SUV. Now that it’s officially out on the market, we had a good sense of what was coming next: Kia would soon follow with a second-generation Telluride. And that’s what we have here, as the Korean automaker unveils the design of this brand-new model before it officially hits Los Angeles on November 20. In this early preview, Kia brought Kase out to its California studio to see what this new model is all about.
To be clear, this is a look at the 2027 Kia Telluride, rather than a complete unveiling, technical specs and all. For the moment, the automaker is holding back the finer minutia like powertrain details, detailed trim information and pricing. In fact, the company invited TFL and other outlets out to what’s more of a design symposium, wherein the Telluride gives us a better idea of where the company is headed in terms of aesthetics, with more specific information to come closer to this SUV’s early 2026 launch.
We did get a few numbers to pore over, though. Overall, this second-gen model is 2.3 inches longer than the previous model, measuring out to 199.2 inches in total. The wheelbase is also three inches longer than before (so somewhere around 117 inches), and it’s about an inch taller (70 inches). The off-road-focused X-Pro model, in particular, gets up to 9.1 inches of ground clearance as well, which isn’t bad for a family hauler.
Going over the 2027 Kia Telluride’s design
Even the first Kia Telluride was meant to be a big and bold offering over its past SUVs like the Sorento and the Sportage. And that ethos continues unabated here, with the second-generation version getting bigger and boxier than ever before. That’s especially true with the front end, which gets a completely upright grille design and vertical headlights flanked by thin, orange daytime running lights. The new Telluride’s side profile takes on an EV9-like vibe with several angles and few curves, apart from the wheel arches (and it gets flush door handles, to boot).
At the back, the 2027 Kia Telluride gets equally thin taillights that remind us of a certain other SUV on the market — but we’ll leave that for you to decide. This is the latest evolution of Kia’s “Opposites United” design philosophy, bringing sharp angles and curves together to achieve a blend of both sophistication and ruggedness. Whether or not they actually achieved that goal is up to your own aesthetic tastes, though I will say the new X-Pro does look a decent bit tougher than the old one. The extra clearance helps, while Kia further added a ground lighting feature to the X-Pro that will illuminate the vehicle underneath
Inside, the squared-off theme continues, with the 2027 Kia Telluride taking on a look fairly similar to the EV9. Not that doing so is a surprising revelation, but it means you now get dual displays for the gauge cluster and infotainment system, with a 5-or-so-inch screen sandwiched between them for your climate controls. While this Telluride is sticking with a gas engine — Kia did not confirm a hybrid option for this model just yet — the gear selector moves to a twist-style setup on the steering column, like the EV9.
While we don’t have exact numbers yet, the extra length and height ought to help out with space, particularly on the second and third rows. A host of trim levels will also be available for customers to choose from, as Kia showed off the top-end SX-Prestige and X-Pro in Monday’s debut.
We don’t know exactly how much the 2027 Kia Telluride will cost just yet, as I said, but we should have that information in the next several weeks. Past the LA Auto Show later on this month, the automaker says it expects this second-generation model to actually hit showrooms in the first quarter of 2026.
Check out more on the new Telluride in Kase’s video below:
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