With a more aggressive aesthetic, the K8 has a somewhat marine-inspired flavour. Longer, lower and with a pronounced and predatory style, the Karim Habib-designed K8 builds on and reinterprets the modern Kia aesthetic and signature “tiger nose” grille, as first fashioned by Peter Schreyer in the late 2000s, and includes the outgoing Cadenza.
Only second to the full-size luxury K9 among Kia’s saloon model range, the K8 brings a decidedly more dramatic design, more up-market experience and a host of new or improved technologies and features over its Kia Cadenza predecessor. Making it global debut in 2021 and introduced to regional markets in recent weeks as part of a multimodel hybrid electric vehicle launch, the Kia K8 HEV is the Korean manufacturer’s electrified answer to large, luxurious and sportily flavoured front-drive saloons like the Nissan Maxima.
