Kia design boss: “the post-SUV is coming”

The Opposites United label applies as much to the Kia line-up in its entirety as it does each individual model. The EV9, for example, takes a radically different design approach to its technically related EV6 sibling, and the stylistic links between the Picanto and Proceed, Sportage and Stonic and Soul and Sorento are subtly effective, rather than overt – a manifestation of Kia’s steadfast desire not to pursue the Russian doll approach. 

Habib says he wants to achieve “a product portfolio that has a certain consistency between the products but at the same time has its own particular elements”. He adds, though, that the stark difference between the EV6 and EV9 doesn’t necessarily point to a move towards such radical differentiation for each and every future model. “I don’t think each one will be as different as these two,” he says. “That’s not the way we want to build a brand. We want to build a brand with consistency and recognisability. 

But at the same time, we build almost three million cars a year, and with very different typologies for different types of vehicles in different markets, so they can’t be all out of the same mould.” 

Indeed, while the EV9 is much more recognisably an SUV in the traditional sense than the lower-slung, more aggressive EV6, its design ethos doesn’t signal a shift away from the hallmarks established by the latter. 

“I wouldn’t say we’re abandoning anything, honestly,” says Habib. “We tried to develop a design philosophy that isn’t based on dogma. There are maybe certain principles that will be repeated in the other cars, but the execution and the different ways of using it I think needs to be open.”

The killer question for any designer today, then, and one that seems especially pertinent when posed in the shadow of the monolithic, towering EV9: will we always have SUVs?

Habib responds with refreshing humility: “I don’t like to pretend that I can tell people what they’re going to be doing in the future.”

But there is a philosophical debate to be had here, and it’s one that’s clearly shaping every discussion within the walls of Kia’s Namyang design studio.

“SUVs were maybe a learning from people driving [MPVs] and being tired of it,” he ponders, adding more categorically and intriguingly: “The post-SUV is coming.” 

In recent months, several brands have hinted that the days of the traditional SUV – which is to say upright, two-box, fully road-biased and often derided by car enthusiasts – are numbered. 

Growing focus on aerodynamic efficiency and sustainability is necessitating a rethink, even as demand for such models surges to unprecedented levels.

Habib takes an open approach: “We will try different things,” he says. “I do think there are more efficient ways of doing space.”

The looming eradication of the transmission tunnel and engine bay enables a totally new approach to interior design, and the cars of the near future theoretically needn’t be the same size and shape to offer comparable utility and comfort.

“I personally believe that you can do really cool vans,” he says, pointing to the rakish, not-for-UK Carnival as a “cool” and “desirable” take on the traditional MPV. Ultimately, though, for Habib it’s not a question of segmentation. Instead: “I think in a world where technological progress needs to be visible. 

"If the SUV doesn’t manage to show that, it’s not going to survive. If we manage to create vehicles that are SUVs that do feel like they progress, I think they’re going to survive. So I think that’s more the question than the actual typology itself: what does it symbolise?”

Kia's design lessons from Land Rover

Kia taking design inspiration from Land Rover? Unthinkable, perhaps, but consider the EV9’s simplistic lines and minimalist cues. 

“There’s something really nice about these sorts of authentic, honest, boxy SUVs,” says Habib. “When you look at a Land Rover Defender today, an old or a new one, there’s still something really quite cool about that.”