Currently, Hyundai and Kia are some of the most popular Asian automakers, and that's mostly because one day a few decades ago, their corner office head honchos decided they wanted to punch far beyond their weight. And now we have stuff like the Genesis luxury brand, Ioniqs, or the Kia Telluride flagship CUV. Among many other exciting stuff, that is.
Speaking of Telluride, the mid-size crossover SUV with three rows of seats wasn't even introduced too long ago, as it entered production early in 2019 as a 2020 model year. It slots above the Sorento in the United States, where it also shares various components with its cousin Hyundai Palisade – but unlike the latter, it doesn't need a US visa because it's produced in West Point, Georgia at KMMG (Kia Manufacturing Georgia) alongside Sorento, K5, and Sportage models.
Although pretty new on the US market by traditional standards, Kia's Telluride has quickly become extremely popular, and the South Korean automaker didn't even bother with many changes when it revealed the 2024MY that starts at an MSRP of $35,990 because the previous one brought the mid-cycle refresh with it. However, that strategy will certainly not pay dividends for 2025MY, given the dynamics of the US automotive market, where large CUVs have already become the third most significant segment in sales after the first six months of the year.
No worries, though. If Kia doesn't do anything, some folks could take matters into their hands, or rather, at the tip of their CGI brushes, as is the case here with the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Cue the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube, who have (again) imagined the CGI solution lies with a sportier variant. So they neatly dreamed the looks of the unannounced and unreleased 2025 Kia Telluride GT.
The GT-Line models are pretty famous at Kia, indeed, but there's no such thing in the Telluride family, even though the mid-size CUV features no less than ten available trims, including the off-road-focused X-line models. Now the host believes this popular model "really deserves to receive a special, hotter version," and of course, the GT option stands first to reason.
And it seems the resident pixel master plus the host really care about this unofficial Kia Telluride GT because they bothered to give us everything – a potential peek inside the cabin, the exterior changes with lots of unofficial colors for the CUV's hulking body, a quick look at the rear POV, as well as some speculation regarding the hypothetical powertrain upgrades.
As far as the latter is concerned, they have three options. The most accessible and least alluring move would be to boost the 291-hp rating of the current 3.8-liter V6 engine by ten or even 20%. They could also swap the 3.3-liter T-GDi mill from the Kia Stinger GT inside the informal Telluride GT since the former is biting the dust anyway and jump to around 368 hp and 376 lb-ft (510 Nm) in the process. Or, ultimately, they could also bring it closer to the EV9 with a plug-in hybrid version at around 400 ponies or so.
Which one do you think would make sense – a slight boost, a big jump via Stinger GT V6 swap, or mighty electrification to get the best of both worlds? And do you think a Kia Telluride GT would even make sense to fight the likes of Ford's Explorer ST?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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