2027 Kia Telluride -- Going Bold, Staying Boxy

The answer? Go bolder with the grille. Then, moving inside, get riskier with the steering wheel and digital gauge and infotainment screens.

Oh, and make the thing bigger while you're at it.

The hood stays straight and clean -- to borrow two words from Kia's press release -- but the grille is now "high-gloss". The headlights are larger and more clearly vertical.

Comparing photos of the 2025 to the 2027 -- Kia will skip a model year since calendar year 2026 is right around the corner -- the grille doesn't look super different in terms of pattern, but it appears to be bigger. It definitely stands out more in the press shots.

Other notable exterior design elements include floating wheel cladding and a tapered roofline. Door handles are flush and there are notches in the wheel wells. The beltline rises in the rear.

X-Pro trims, which are meant to being able to handle some light off-roading, get blacked-out wheel arches, mirror housings, beltline trim, and D-pillars. The roof rails are raised, the grille gets a mesh design, the front bumper is painted black, and all-terrain tires are the standard. This trim has 9.1 inches of ground clearance. Tow hooks are standard, front and rear.

X-Pros further get lights that are meant to illuminate the ground around the vehicle as well as blacked-out wheels. Wheel sizes, which appear to be trim dependent, are 18-, 20-, and 21-inches.

Inside, you can get faux wood and real metal accents, and lighting will emanate from under the center console. The rear center console can convert into a table, and the rear cargo area is configurable.

The 2027 Telluride gets longer and taller, which Kia says should make rear-seat entry and egress easier. Headroom is claimed to be increased, by as much as half an inch for those models with sunroofs.

There are more available color combinations for the interior and more color choices for the exterior.

Kia has more details to share with us -- those will be released when the public (and yours truly) gets to set its peepers on the SUV during the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show. Until then, we'll have to be content looking at photos.

[Images: Kia]

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