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The Kia EV9 represents a significant entry in the electric vehicle (EV) market, and a recent Munro team teardown analysis offers a revealing look at how Hyundai-Kia leverages platform commonality, material strategies, and visual design to create an electric SUV that balances appeal with cost-efficiency. This detailed breakdown explores the engineering decisions behind the EV9. Decision that are grounded in lean manufacturing principles and informed by Munro & Associates’ expert teardown insights.
Designed for Visual Impact, Not Redundancy
The EV9’s exterior showcases how Kia strategically allocates budget to areas that create maximum customer impact. Some OEMs use unpainted molding and minimal cladding to cut costs. Kia takes a different approach. It invests in extensive painted surfaces—even on cladding that could remain unpainted. While cladding often adds cost through fasteners and complexity, Kia minimizes this by molding clip structures (or “dog houses”) directly into the main part. This eliminates the need for additional backing panels or heat staking operations, offering cost savings while preserving aesthetic quality.
A standout feature is the wheel assembly. Beneath a painted and masked wheel cover lies a fully finished cast aluminum wheel—likely powder-coated black and then concealed almost entirely. The wheel cover itself includes a gloss finish, silver accent masking, and a center cap with spring-loaded retention and a faux aluminum badge. This is an example of high perceived value at each corner, but it’s a conscious spend: Kia places money where customers look first.
Shared Platform Efficiency: The EGMP Foundation
The EV9 rides on Hyundai-Kia’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), the same architecture underpinning the Ioniq 5, EV6, and other models. This allows Kia to take advantage of economies of scale across manufacturing, reducing development cost and time-to-market. Common component strategies allow Hyundai-Kia to tailor platform outputs for different market targets and vehicle sizes with minimal redesign.
While this replication may feel uninspiring from a teardown perspective, it’s brilliant for mass production. Stamped steel body structures and similar suspension layouts dominate, but with tailored variations—like aluminum lower control arms in the EV9 replacing the stamped steel units in previous vehicles, offering improved handling and weight distribution for this heavier SUV segment.
Strategic Suspension and Safety Structure Choices
The EV9 uses a MacPherson strut front suspension—a compact and cost-effective layout. However, it incorporates a “virtual ball” setup that enhances steering geometry and ride comfort, helping target the premium segment. A cast or possibly forged aluminum steering knuckle supports the front geometry, showcasing an investment in driving dynamics.
More notably, Kia’s attention to small overlap rigid barrier (SORB) crash test performance is evident in the front-end structure. Key structural elements like crush cans and reinforced mounts absorb and redirect impact forces away from the battery and passenger cabin. Coolant lines are routed through tight packaging spaces with carefully controlled mounts, although some clearances approach pinch-zone thresholds—likely the result of platform compromises.
Battery Pack Construction: A Mix of Cost and Strength
The EV9’s battery pack uses extruded aluminum housing, secured with through-bolts that tie directly into the unibody structure for enhanced crash survivability and rigidity. This approach is consistent with prior Hyundai-Kia EVs, contrasting Tesla’s newer stamped and cast battery enclosure strategy.
While extrusions offer cheaper capital expenditure and strong performance, they lack the integration and space optimization of stamped housings. The leading edge of the battery features structural crush zones designed to absorb impact before compromising critical high-voltage and thermal management systems, an important consideration in a large-format EV.
Underbody protection includes a shield bonded with what appears to be urethane or RTV at key junctions. This shield not only deflects debris but also contributes to overall structural stiffness—critical for managing the battery pack’s weight and the vehicle’s dynamic loads.
Composite Rear Impact Beam: A Kia Signature
Kia’s continued use of composite rear bumper beams sets it apart. This strategy dates back to ICE vehicles like the Kia Sorento and remains in use even as the platform transitions to BEV applications. The composite beam offers flexible molding, cost savings, and adequate crash energy absorption—especially when paired with steel crush cans, which remain in place on the EV9.
Unlike extruded aluminum beams that require secondary machining or forming, injection-molded composite components are easily shaped and integrated, reducing part count and manufacturing complexity. While not always lighter, they support lean design goals through formability and tooling longevity.
Hidden Bulk, Maximized Space
The EV9’s rear fascia design exemplifies Kia’s visual strategy. Rather than increase the physical footprint with heavier structural elements, Kia extends plastic fascias far beyond the body-in-white. This gives the illusion of a larger, more robust vehicle while keeping structural dimensions and weight in check.
A similar approach is used to shape the vehicle’s rear cabin space. By mimicking the squared proportions of discontinued models like the Ford Flex, Kia delivers internal spaciousness and utility without dramatically altering the core platform’s geometry or increasing cost.
NVH and Longevity Trade-Offs
Kia’s choice of compressed PET fiber wheel liners helps mitigate noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). However, these liners can become compromised over time as they trap water and dirt, reducing their acoustic performance. Some OEMs are debating the long-term benefit of such materials—whether the short-term NVH gains justify the cost if they degrade prematurely.
In the EV9, Kia supplements these liners with additional NVH materials on the backside, suggesting a deliberate focus on initial customer experience, even at the risk of reduced performance later in the vehicle’s life cycle.
Lean Manufacturing in Suspension Design
In another cost-savvy move, Kia uses non-handed aluminum control arms for the rear suspension. Laser etching post-production determines whether a part will serve the left or right side, enabling a single tooling process. This reduces SKU complexity and allows bulk aluminum use without the premium typically associated with high-end materials. Kia achieves a “premium look” with mid-tier pricing by combining smart part strategies with laser etching and minimal design variation.
Conclusion: Strategic Consistency Over Flashy Innovation
In the final analysis, the Kia EV9 may not deliver the kind of underbody innovation that excites teardown engineers, but that’s not the point. Its brilliance lies in applying repeatable strategies that prioritize the customer experience while respecting manufacturing cost constraints. By investing in visible appeal—painted surfaces, polished wheels, squared fascia—and reducing complexity where customers won’t notice—battery pack design, shared suspension layouts—Kia effectively balances visual appeal and cost.
For OEMs, the EV9 is a lesson in leveraging platform consistency while adjusting for vehicle-specific targets. For customers, it’s a visually striking, functionally smart electric SUV built with strategic purpose. And for engineers, it’s a masterclass in platform economics.
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