The all-new Kia EV9 has an important mission in the end of the year. The electric SUV will haul the 2024 Times Square New Year’s Eve Numerals across the United States. The numerals will have to be in New York on time for the ball drop.
Underpinned by the Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), the 2024 Kia EV9 sports a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms). So it should be a piece of cake for the car to take the seven-foot tall, 1,120-pound (508-kilogram) numerals all across the United States.
The EV9 will tow the numerals across the country and will stop in cities such as Los Angeles, Tucson, and Philadelphia along the way. People will be able to see them and touch them. “See and touch the future,” Kia says.
But before that happens, the Numerals will first be on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Then, they will arrive at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on December 1.
The journey continues with the Fourth Avenue Winter Festival in Tucson, Arizona, where the EV9 and the Numerals will stay for two days. They will then continue their journey to Philadelphia for the German Christmas Village from December 16 to 18, and will have to make it to Times Square in New York on December 12.
It is a journey along a 2,800-mile route, from coast to coast, through 18 states, with charging posing the biggest challenge. There is no word on which Kia EV9 variant will go on the road trip.
The Kia EV9 WD Standard Range is equipped with a 76.1-kWh battery pack, which provides it with an EPA-estimated range of 230 miles (370 kilometers). Both the AWD and rear-wheel drive Long Range variants come with the 99.8-kWh that secures them a range of 304 miles (480 kilometers).
Photo: Kia
It is not the first time that Kia America is ringing in the New Year Early with a nationwide tour, pulling the Numerals that will show up, brightly illuminated in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, when the ball drops at midnight. The South Korean automaker is embarking on the cross-country road trip, pulling those numbers for the fourth consecutive year.
Last year, the 2023 Numerals were taken to Times Square by the then-new Kia Telluride X-Pro SUV. Back then, the journey started on November 28.
The previous year, at the end of 2021, it was the Kia EV6 electric crossover that traveled the country to take the 2022 Numerals to New York.
In 2020, the Sorento SUV did the job with the 2021 numerals. Now, the time has come for the all-new Kia EV9 to show what it’s got. There is no word of the EV9 being in the spotlight in Times Square on New Year's Eve.
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