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Poke around the online configurator for the 2027 Kia Telluride, and you’ll find a range of inventive color combinations and trim material choices for the interior. Many of them are a little off-beat—some dark sage here, eggplant there—to match the SUV’s polarizing exterior. That’s a very conscious decision, paraphrasing the words of Kia design boss, Tom Kearns, to inject some energy inside the car beyond the standard neutral cabins we’ve come to expect.
“This offers something that’s dark and neutral, but not black or gray,” Kearns, who serves as Chief Designer at Kia Design Center America, told The Drive in an interview, speaking of the partially purple interior option. “This gives a little more life to the interior, without being overpowered, you know? It’s pretty subtle.”
The eggplant/cream combination is only available on the Telluride Hybrid, a new model and powertrain for the second-generation SUV. The leather-looking surfaces are made of Syntex, a synthetic material that Kia has used on other models that’s been designed to be easy to wipe down. That’s a necessity, considering we’re talking about a family vehicle at the end of the day.
I’m not normally a purple kind of guy, but it’s growing on me. Kia
Other interior colorways include a Deep Navy and Tuscan Umber combination on the gas Telluride. The latter can best be described as a brick-like hue, and this, too, appears to be an alternative to a conventional interior flavor. Many cars—the Telluride included—offer caramel tones, but this redder upholstery is distinctive, especially against the navy. Millstone, Kia’s name for a more camo-green shade, can also be paired with black or Saddle Brown, which is closer to beige.
The Dark Navy/Tuscan Umber combination. Kia
Altogether, the new Telluride has six interior colorway options if you include the hybrid-exclusive eggplant flavor. And that’s a lot for a volume SUV that many consumers likely take home in black. But these options do give the vehicle a more upmarket feel, even if Kia’s going after the same demographic as before with this iteration. After all, we’re used to seeing purple interiors in made-to-order Bentaygas and Cullinans, but in a Telluride? That’s a different look.
“We’re making it look expensive, not necessarily be expensive,” Kearns summed up about Kia’s design ambitions. You expect people to show up for the new Telluride, like they showed up for the old one. The real question is how many we see in the wild will be optioned in purple.
Kia
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Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
