The Korean automaker is readying its next-gen, Korean-market K7, which is the Cadenza in the US.
By Manuel Carrillo III, Roadshow
Kia has been selling the second-generation Cadenza
full-size sedan in the US since 2017. Usually after three model years,
automakers will update a vehicle to keep it fresh in the marketplace
without having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a complete
redesign.
Model year 2020 would mark the Cadenza's fourth spin around the sun, which means Kia's Toyota Avalon
competitor is due for a refresh. Now we have an idea of how that
refresh may appear. On its Korean-market Facebook page this week, Kia
released an assortment of teaser sketches for the K7, which is what the Cadenza is called in its home market.
If
the updated Cadenza looks only half as good as the car in these
sketches, it will be a marked improvement over the current car. Right
now, the Cadenza looks like a plain sedan that's wearing a lot of
makeup. These social media images show a car that exhibits more natural
beauty, like the Cadenza's head-turning rear-wheel-drive sibling, the Kia Stinger.
The interior sketches show what appears to be a major leap forward in
in-cabin tech compared with the current car, which has a nice interior,
but tired-looking electronics. The Facebook post doesn't provide any
information on powertrain or tech updates. It wouldn't be crazy to
assume, though, that the 2020 Cadenza would continue to use a 3.3-liter
V6 with 290 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque, which would send
power to the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.
We've
reached out to Kia to get more details about the updated 2020 Cadenza,
and to find out whether the automaker even plans to bring the refreshed
full-size sedan to the US. In response to Roadshow, a Kia spokesperson
was unable to provide comment on future product, but added that Kia has
"great Cadenza news coming soon."
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