Kia’s Successful Telluride Goes Off Road, And On-Screen, For 2023

If you’ve bought a mannequin in your line up that has already received North American SUV of the 12 months, World Automobile of the 12 months, Edmunds Prime Rated SUV, and at the least a dozen different high-profile {industry} awards, it could be straightforward, and cheap, to chill and bask within the automotive love. However Kia isn’t identified for resting on its laurels, because the model’s ongoing success over the previous 10-plus years confirms.

With the 2023 Kia Telluride approaching its mid-cycle refresh, together with the continuing reputation of off-road-oriented SUV trims strewn throughout the {industry}, it’s not shocking to see Kia flip to is new “X-Line” and “X-Professional” trims, which already made their debuts on the 2023 Sportage, as the following logical step in Telluride evolution.

These off-road trims embody the usual remedy we’ve seen from different manufacturers, together with extra “aggressive” exterior styling cues, particular wheel designs sporting off-road tires, and a slight (0.4-inch) carry in experience peak to enhance off-pavement clearance. These X-Line/X-Professional-specific adjustments are along with added tech and security options for the Telluride in 2023, starting from a digital (smartphone-based) key that works with Apple and Android fashions to bigger 12.3-inch inside shows to improved driver-assist know-how. Many of those enhancements mirror the Kia Telluride’s mechanical twin, the 2023 Hyundai Palisade featured right here.

Extra intriguing than the Telluride’s new options and tech is the brand new strategy the model is taking within the SUV’s promoting marketing campaign. Kia has a historical past of making memorable commercials, and the 2023 Telluride is the newest product to bask within the firm’s artistic TV messaging. Given the emphasis on off-road efficiency for the newest Telluride it’s not shocking to seek out the newest industrial specializing in this space.

We are able to’t go into element concerning the brand new industrial’s storyline, however we’ve seen not solely the story board however the precise taking pictures location for mentioned industrial. It was excessive within the Rocky Mountains, about 4,000 ft above the city of Telluride, on a boulder-strewn peak with difficult terrain and turbulent climate.

After witnessing the taking pictures spectacle we spoke with Ben Purcell, Chief Artistic Officer at David & Goliath, Kia’s artistic company of document. “This car is one other degree in each sense of the phrase, and we need to display how that appears and the place it will possibly go. With a variety of opponents you may simply see operating footage of a car performing, and for us we need to present that off however there needs to be extra to it — a human connection.”

We additionally talked to Russell Wager, VP of Advertising at Kia America, about how the Telluride’s industry-wide success has impacted the bigger Kia model. “Telluride launched 3 years in the past and we noticed greater earnings, greater schooling, decrease age and better transaction costs for the car. We additionally noticed new consumers we’d by no means seen within the model, 75 % first-time Kia consumers. Within the following years, for every SUV launch we did, the Telluride gave us a halo. Individuals who couldn’t afford the three-row Telluride SUV mentioned ‘I’m going to get as a lot of that as I can’, so we noticed our all-wheel-drive combine go up, we noticed our trim combine go up on the Seltos and Sorrento once they launched. Telluride has put the halo over our complete SUV line, and each one in every of our automobiles has skilled the identical shift, greater earnings, greater schooling, greater transaction value.”

Within the realm of automotive success tales, the Kia Telluride ranks up there with the unique VW Beetle and Ford Mustang — at the least by way of near-universal reward from each critics and shoppers. After all provide chain challenges for Kia (and each different automaker) are limiting the Telluride’s gross sales quantity in comparison with these earlier fashions.

However Kia is aware of it has a winner, and it’s investing within the Telluride’s continued success with a brand new artistic marketing campaign that can debut through the Emmy’s subsequent month. Primarily based on what we noticed excessive within the Rockies not too long ago, the Telluride’s consciousness ranges (and gross sales tempo) will proceed with the 2023 refresh and new TV industrial.