We’ve already seen a teaser for the facelifted Hyundai Palisade ahead of its imminent debut, so it’s only fitting Kia has also chosen to tease an update for its related Telluride.
The two large crossovers will be revealed on April 13 at the 2022 New York motor show.
A Kia Australia spokesperson confirmed the Telluride is still off the cards for Australia, with no opportunity for a right-hand drive model.
It’s exclusively produced in the US for left-hand drive markets only, unlike the Palisade which is produced in South Korea for left- and right-hand drive markets.
“There are no plans for Kia to build Telluride out of the South Korean factories,” said Kia Australia product planning manager Roland Rivero in May 2021 in response to rumours Kia would start building the Telluride in South Korea.
“I can confirm that that is nothing more but a rumour.”
In the lead up to its official launch, Kia has shown off a shadowy image of the the Telluride’s front three-quarter silhouette, as well as its interior.
Up front, the Telluride has a redesigned bumper and reworked headlights with new daytime running light signatures.
The side profile appears to be very similar to the existing model, but a new range of alloy wheels are expected.
Inside, the updated Telluride seems to be very similar to the new Sportage and EV6, with an expansive “curved dash” look. The digital instrument cluster and touchscreen infotainment screen are housed in one assembly.
Kia has confirmed this updated Telluride will be available with a new, rugged X-Pro trim level and offer the choice of either seven or eight seats.
Pre-facelift Kia Telluride
Power is still expected to come exclusively from a 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated V6 engine producing 217kW of power and 355Nm of torque.
KoreanCarBlog recently leaked an internal presentation slide of the updated Palisade which detailed all the changes it’ll be receiving. It’s expected the facelifted Telluride will receive some, if not all of these changes.
In addition to the new lights, grille, bumpers and wheels, the key upgrades for the new Palisade include:
- 12.3-inch navigation system
- ‘Full Display Rearview mirror’
- Auto-dimming side mirrors
- Hydrophobic windows
- Remote Smart Park Assist
- Digital Key 2.0
- Enhanced forward autonomous emergency braking (AEB) functionality
- Reverse AEB
- Highway Driving Assist 2.0
- Adaptive cruise control with Curve Control
- Tow mode
Facelifted Hyundai Palisade teaser images 
Unlike the updated Telluride, Hyundai Australia has confirmed the refreshed Palisade will be arriving Down Under during the third quarter of 2022.
In the first three months of 2022, Kia has sold 1479 Carnival people movers while Hyundai has sold 1229 Palisade SUVs.
Hyundai does have another entrant in the large SUV segment, however, in the Santa Fe. It has sold 834 models so far this year, just behind its Kia Sorento platform-mate.
