The Kia K9 playing in the cold snow

Let’s start with the bad news. The Kia K9 will not be sold in Europe, at least for the time being. But it is a very interesting model and if you live in the United States, you will be able to buy it (and if you later want to return to Europe, you will be able to export it).

Here we see it carrying out the traditional winter tests in Scandinavian territory. The Kia K9 is a four-door saloon and roughly 4.8 metres long, which will make its debut in the second half of 2012, and will be the successor to the Kia Opirus, whose production ended in 2010.

The Kia K9 shares the platform of the Hyundai Genesis Sedan, which means it uses rear-wheel drive and the same range of engines. This means there will be three possible options, all of them petrol.

The most modest will be a 3.8-litre V6 producing 337 CV. Then comes a 5.0-litre V8, offered in two power levels, 390 and 435 CV. As can be seen, these are very high power levels and always in petrol form. If the Kia K9 wants to succeed in Europe it would need at least one diesel engine.

Source | worldcarfans