Kia reaches top level

If ever a car was built to show off, this one — the Kia K900 — is it.
It’s not that the K900 is a flashy car as much as it is an exercise in corporate bragging rights, proving to the world that Kia can build luxury cars with the same poise and quality as the big-name brands.
I’m talking about you, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz.
Despite its humble brand name, driving the K900 for a week made me feel like royalty in the same way that a big Mercedes S-Class or Lexus LS does. The sense of total, silent isolation from the road, five-star materials in the cabin, refined V8 power and spaceship-like technology all combine to give it the air of something special.
It feels exclusive, like the kind of car that would be perfectly at home pulling up to the valet at a Ritz-Carlton.
Still, it’s a gamble for the Kia brand.

Despite the fact that it drives as nicely as a Mercedes does, in my opinion, I don’t think Kia is going to sell a huge number of these cars for a couple of reasons.
One is that the market for a $60,000 luxury Kia is microscopic. It’s a serious bargain in this class, costing tens of thousands less than some of its snooty competitors, but it’s also reaching a price point that seems astronomical to Kia’s meat-and-potatoes customers who are buying $14,000 Rios and $16,000 Fortes.
The other reason is just sad: many luxury buyers care too much about brand names to buy it.
For someone who values the substance of a car — the logical side, if you will — the K900 is a great choice. In terms of technology, power and quality, it’s one of the best full-size luxury cars on the planet right now.
The problem is that Kia’s brand doesn’t carry the same prestige, mystique or heritage that other brands have spent decades building up. Kia’s surge to prominence is too recent a phenomenon to have earned enough cachet to impress people who value that sort of thing.

As a halo car, though, the K900 makes perfect sense. Kia, like its Korean cousin Hyundai, has undertaken the car industry’s most impressive product improvements in the past five years, and the K900 is the ultimate example of that. Even if the K900 doesn’t sell in massive numbers, it casts a glow around the rest of the Kia lineup that results in more people buying high-end Cadenzas and Optimas.
With a restrained but captivating body, it looks as good as any Lexus. With a perfectly tuned suspension and syrupy V8 at the driver’s command, it has more lively and enjoyable rear-wheel-drive handling than a big Mercedes. And with a cabin packed with easy-to-use, sci-fi-like technologies, it pampers passengers better than a BMW.
Point proven, Kia. The K900 is up to par with the best luxury cars on Planet Earth. Keep this up for a few decades, and brand cachet won’t be a problem in the slightest.