Kia's K9 Rear-Wheel Drive Flagship Spotted in California, is U.S. Debut Imminent?

Despite the fact that Kia Motors' U.S. executives are avoiding to say whether the company's brand new K9 flagship model will come to the States, we all know that the Korean company would not develop a premium sedan model without planning to sell it in the world's biggest and most lucrative luxury car market.

Which is why we are not surprised that a Twitter user spotted the K9, which recently went on sale in South Korea, on an Orange County, California roadway.

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Kia Wants to Know What it Should Name the K9 Flagship for Overseas Markets

For our 2012 April Fool's Day joke, we hacked in a BMW grille and renamed Kia's new K9 flagship sedan the 9'Series for the North American market. True, our designation cannot be taken seriously, but Kia still needs a model name for the K9 in overseas markets.

The South Korean automaker posted on its Facebook page that it is interested to hear some naming suggestions for the K9 sedan, which was launched in its home market on Wednesday (read more about that here).

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New Kia K9 Flagship Sedan Makes its Market Debut in South Korea, Launches with V6 Engines

Kia's most ambitious new model, the K9 flagship sedan that eyes the BMW 7-Series both in style and in size, went on sale in South Korea on Wednesday.

The full-size, rear-wheel drive sedan is currently offered with two V6 engines, while pricing in Korea starts at 52,900,000 won (US$46,900 / €35,500) and rises to 86,400,000 won (US$76,500 / €57,900).

Kia said today that after its introduction in South Korea, the K9 will launch in a number of key overseas markets starting in the fourth quarter of 2012, though the company would not elaborate further. It is expected, however, that the U.S.A. and Canada will be amongst those markets to receive Kia's new flagship.

"K9 is our first rear-wheel drive large sedan for more than a decade and sets new standards for advanced design, new technologies and driving performance, representing the 'best of the best' of Kia," commented Soon-Nam Lee, Kia's Director of Overseas Marketing Group.

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Kia Releases the First Interior Shots and TV Spots for its New K9 Flagship Sedan

With the K9's domestic market launch drawing nearer, Kia has published a new trio of photos as well as the first official television ads for its new full-size, rear-wheel-drive sedan.

Two of the new photos provide us our first glimpse at the luxury model's interior including the instrument panel and part of the steering wheel as well as Kia's very BMW-like automatic transmission shifter and parking brake button and infotainment system control knob.

Kia says that the K9 will be equipped with an array of technological and safety features such as a latest generation, full-color heads-up display, full adaptive LED headlamps and a large 12.3-inches LCD screen for the infotainment system.

Furthermore, Kia revealed that the K9 will launch in South Korea this summer with two engine options, a 3.3-liter V6 rated at 296HP (300PS) and a 3.8-liter V6 producing 329HP (334PS).

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Peter Schreyer Explains the Design Behind the New Kia K9 RWD Luxury Sedan

While some of you were having some chortles with our Kia 9'Series, the South Korean automaker shared a video about the K9 sedan starring none other than the brand's styling chief, Peter Schreyer.

The man who has completely transformed the design and ultimately, the way we view Kia's modern day lineup, explains the styling process behind the creation of the brand's first rear-wheel drive luxury sedan while drawing a sketch of the car.

You can watch the video for yourself right after the break.

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Kia to Debut North American 9'Series Flagship Sedan at the New York Auto Show

In a move that was to be expected after Kia revealed the new K9 in its home market of South Korea about a month ago, the automaker announced today that the North American version of its flagship sedan will welcome the public at next week's New York Auto Show.

We were right to suspect that Kia would change the name of the car for the United States and Canada, as 'K9' is more often than not associated with the word 'canine' in this part of the world.

Instead, we will come to know it as the new 9'Series after the company adopted the use of numeric names with an apostrophe between the number and the word 'Series' in a similar fashion to the European Cee'd.

And that's not the only change to the original K9. Under the guidance of chief designer Peter Schreyer, the company's U.S studio in California redesigned the car's front grille to address critics who felt that the K9's appearance was too close to similar offerings from BMW.

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