Sharper
Redesigning the very successful Telluride is a high-stakes situation for Kia. Amortized and still selling well, a redux could either juice the appeal or remove some intangible element that made it appeal so strongly to three-row SUV consumers. Its equally successful platform-mate, the 2026 Hyundai Palisade, just got a bold redesign, and the rivalry between the two brands is such that Kia will not be outdone. When a car sells like the first Telluride did, a redesign is a high stakes project. In this environment, Kia will unveil the 2027 Telluride next month. But first, we get a look at a camouflaged Telluride that hides some details a bit but reveals much.
The biggest take-away is that the 2027 Telluride will be a much more creased, sharp-edged thing. The current Telluride’s blunted quadrangle headlight housings are gone, and in their place are sharply square, vertically oriented lamps tucked between some thin, angular running light strips. They flow down into a lower fascia that has more elements that stand proud, including some small but prominent bumper overrider-type elements. The grille is now truly full-width, with a waffle-stomper blocky texture and just a hint of contour where the hood dips down to cut into its central span.
The hood also changes shape dramatically, with an almost inverse power bulge shape. The wide outer ridges flow back to meet the A-pillar, but there’s a strong tumblehome down to the fenders. It makes the fenders appear to pop out proud of a narrower body, a nice visual trick, and thankfully distinct from the Kia Tasman’s vaguely similar look.
That A-pillar is crisp, thin, and blacked-out, and will likely stay that way for the production model to give the greenhouse a bit of a wrap-around cockpit vibe. The side windows and pillars all look very conventional, very trucky, with a straight shoulder line with no tucked up flourish in the center like the current model’s. The D-pillar is chunky and arches forward, terminating at the roof from which a small spoiler juts out to increase the rake’s prominence. In profile, this is a truckish SUV, in some ways echoing the Honda Ridgeline’s very successful recent redesign to look more like some of its more proportionate body-on-frame predecessors. Think, Isuzu Rodeo, even a more upright homage to the L320 Range Rover Sport.
The interesting camo—made of hundreds of overlapping line drawings of the Telluride concept—obscure some finer details but not the basic shapes. I’d love to see what the unusual split four-spoke wheels look like without a wrap. But as a whole, this preview of the ’27 Telluride reveals a blockier vehicle that meshes with consumer preferences for capable-looking SUVs.
Speaking of capability, the wrapped Telluride carries an X-Pro badge, identifying it as one of Kia’s more off-road capable variants. The promotional reel shows it tackling some impressive obstacles and running at high speed though the desert. It looks like Kia’s serious about a more rugged, off-road ready full-size SUV that can go toe to toe with the established players in that segment.
Kia will show off the new Telluride on November 20, 2025.
Recent Posts
All Posts
December 5, 2025
Peter Hughes
December 5, 2025