10 Biggest News Stories of the Month: Kia Telluride Takes Aim at American-Made Index

Here’s how an internet meme, featuring a screenshot of a water-fording 2020 Kia Telluride from Kia’s somewhat presumptuous Super Bowl commercial, might read:

Nobody:

Kia: For everyone who didn’t think our all-new attractive and tastefully stylish mid-size family SUV couldn’t contend with the rugged travails of off-roading … in yo face!

Related: 2020 Kia Telluride: 6 Things We Like (and 2 Not So Much)

As Cars.com’s Joe Wiesenfelder observed, “though the off-pavement imagery has toned down since, it hasn’t stopped. Subsequent commercials have called out the model’s all-wheel-drive lock mode and torque-vectoring corner control, and shown the Telluride on a muddy farm running with livestock and/or compared it to a bull.”

So, of course, when presented with the opportunity to test out the Telluride’s off-road prowess on a real-world outdoor obstacle course, we seized it. And ya know what? Some visual marketing hyperbole aside, the Telluride indeed showed real promise out there — and it delivered on that promise as it climbed the rocky road to the top of the list of Cars.com’s most popular news stories in the month of June.

Well, almost to the top.

Wiesenfelder’s account of our Telluride off-roading odyssey checks in at No. 2. Meanwhile, the No. 1 spot went to our annual assessment of which vehicles stand up to scrutiny of just how “American” they really are beyond simple brand recognition, Cars.com’s American-Made Index. This year’s most American car (and, as it were, also 2018’s most American car) per our exhaustive investigation and comprehensive criteria, was the Jeep Cherokee.

Articles associated with the AMI, as we call it for short, dominated this month’s top 10. In addition to the main story atop the June list, our designation of the leastAmerican cars checks in at No. 6, while our full list of the vehicles built in the good ol’ US of A lands at No. 7.

Kia parent company Hyundai-Kia is having something of a banner buzz year so far in 2019, and not just because of the Telluride. Cars.com readers have also demonstrated an insatiable appetite for news about the Telluride’s platform-sharing cousin, the 2020 Hyundai Palisade. Our report on pricing for the Palisade registers at No. 4 this month, while our comprehensive coverage roundup on the SUV takes the No. 8 position.

Shopping for a new car and wanna know what you should be paying attention to? Look no further. Here are the top 10 news stories Cars.com readers couldn’t get enough of in the past month:

1. Cars.com’s 2019 American-Made Index: What’s the Most American Car?

2. Can the 2020 Kia Telluride Really Go Off-Road?

3. What’s the Best New-Car Deal for June 2019?

4. 2020 Hyundai Palisade: Priced to Take on Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander

5. 2019-2020 Jaguar I-Pace: Recall Alert 

6. Cars.com’s 2019 American-Made Index: What About the Least American Cars?

7. Cars.com’s 2019 American-Made Index: Which Cars Are Built in the U.S.?

8. 2020 Hyundai Palisade: Everything You Need to Know 

9. 2020 Kia Seltos Teases a Little More on Way to Baring It All This Week

10. 2020 Ford Explorer First Drive: Charting New Territory

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