Kia Loses the Right to Use Quoris Name in Europe to China's Qoros

We don't how many European or Korean, for that matter, carmakers would like to associate one of their top products with a Chinese brand, but Kia found itself in a legal battle with China's Qoros over the name of its new rear-wheel drive flagship saloon, the Quoris, and it lost - at least in Europe and for the time being.

The Korean carmaker introduced the full-size luxury sedan in its home market as the K9, but in July this year, it announced that the export version would be named Quoris, which the company claims is derived from the English words 'Core' and 'Quality'.

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Kia K9 Flagship Sedan Named Quoris for Export Markets [w/Videos]

The new Kia K9 rear-wheel drive luxury sedan will be named Quoris for markets outside of South Korea when it goes on sale in select countries worldwide from the fourth quarter of 2012.

The automaker won't tell us yet which markets will get the new Quoris but it's more or less a given that it will be offered in North America and Western Europe.

Thomas Oh, Kia’s Executive Vice President, explains how the company coined the named Quoris:

"Derived from the English words ‘core’ and ‘quality’, the name of our new flagship sedan hints at the attributes at the very heart of the vehicle. The word ‘Quoris’ conveys solidity, luxury and high-technology, all resonating together as a chorus."

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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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New Kia K9 Flagship Makes Another Appearance for the Camera

Most of you should know what the new Kia K9 looks by now (at least on the outside) after the release of the official shots earlier this week, but we've discovered two new videos of the Korean firm's promising new flagship sedan filmed on the road.

There's nothing new we can add to our previous post as Kia continues to have a tight hold on most information regarding the K9, including when and in which other markets outside its home country it plans to offer its first ever rear-wheel drive sedan.

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First Official Photos of Kia's New K9 RWD Flagship Sedan

Only hours after we shared with you a scoop video showing the Kia K9 without any camouflage whatsoever, the South Korean automaker revealed the first official photographs of its all-new flagship sedan that will be launched in its home market this summer.

Initially referred to by its codename 'KH', Kia confirmed that the Korean market version of the car will be named 'K9' adding that the name for export markets, as well as overseas launch timings, will be announced later this year.

With the new K9, Kia completes its domestic range of "K" sedans, which also include the K5 (Optima in overseas markets) and K7 (Cadenza in overseas markets).

We'll start with the first thing we noticed about the K9 and that has to do with its design. What started out as a hunch when Kia showed us a handful of teaser sketches of its first ever rear-wheel drive saloon has now became more of a certainty. And yes, as many of you also noticed, the K9 appears to borrow one too many styling elements from BMW and especially its 7-Series flagship.

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