Following its launch in Thailand last month, Kia, through its local distributor partner Dinamikjaya Motors, has now announced that its flagship EV9 electric SUV – which has only recently been awarded the World Car of the Year and World Electric Vehicle of the Year – is now open for booking here in Malaysia.
No pricing information is made available yet, but the company says that interested customers can pre-order the vehicle at the nearest Kia showrooms, or through the contact form on its official website.
The Kia EV9’s arrival should be no surprise to us Malaysians, as the vehicle has already been spotted several times on our roads. That said, the company has not provided any information on the flagship SUV just yet, including its Malaysian specification breakdown.
In Thailand, the EV9 is offered in two variants, both powered by the same 99.8 kWh battery pack. The base option is the Earth Long Range, equipped with a single rear-mounted electric motor with 204 hp and 350 Nm of torque, and offering up to 542 km of range (WLTP). The top-spec GT-Line AWD on the other hand gets a dual-motor all-wheel drive setup with total output rated at 385 hp and 700 Nm, plus an electric range of 482 km (WLTP).
Both variants support DC fast charging at up to 350 kW courtesy of its 800V electrical architecture, which allows the flagship SUV to be recharged from 10-80% in just 24 minutes. Like all electric models built on the company’s e-GMP platform, the Kia EV9 will also support vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionalities, with outputs up to 3.58 kW.
The Kia EV9 will come in a 2-2-2 seating layout across both variants in Thailand, although the entry-level Earth Long Range has manually-adjustable second-row seats with swivel functionality, while the range-topping GT-Line AWD gets electrically-adjustable “Relaxation” seats with heating and ventilation functionalities, similar to that of the Kia Carnival.
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In other markets, the EV9 is also available in a 2-3-2 seven-seater layout with bench seating in the second row, as well as a base single-motor powertrain featuring a smaller battery at 76.1-kWh.
Equipment and trim will of course depend on the local variant line-up, but key items on the Kia EV9 include LED lighting on the outside, the “Digital Pattern Lighting Grille”, twin 12.3-inch displays inside the cabin, as well as in certain markets, full Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities through its advanced driver assistance suite.
