Video: 2015 Kia K900

om, here at the 2013 LA Auto Show with the new Kia K900, a rear drive premium sedan that could elevate Kia's luxury status like the Equus and Genesis did for parent brand Hyundai. Except those cars had names you could kind of remember. The K900, not so much. Let's see if it leaves an indelible mark in our memories when we check it out. If the nose looks familiar on the K900, it's because Kia already sort of has this look going in the Cadenza, another large sedan that's front wheel drive that it sells. Of course, that car has a smaller V6 and a different drive line. The K900 will have a 311 horsepower V6 or a 420 horsepower V8, both teamed with an eight speed automatic transmission. That's the most advanced transmission and the most horsepower from any Kia right now on the road in the US. Wheel base, the distance between the front and the rear wheels is about 120 inches on the K900. Now that's about eight inches more than it is on the Cadenza sedan. 19 inch wheels here standard on the K900. Kia's chief designer, a guy by the name of Peter Schreyer, came over from Audi, and you can see some of the influences here in the way the K900 ends. It kind of slopes gently into a very tidy tail. I gotta say, good looking car. V8 models get adaptive led headlights. The tailpipes back here, they kind of sit within the bumper. That's something we see in a lot of newer cars these days. Kia says they mimic the shape of the tail lights. Not the overall shape, but the shape within the taillights here, you can kind of see some of the resemblance. A mid or upper tier luxury car demands attention to details, and the details do look very promising. Things like stitching along the center dashboard tunnel here below the center stack controls. Premium materials all the way up and down the dash. Even stitching across the center part of the steering wheel here. Heated and ventilated seats are standard. So is a navigation system, that's controlled by a knob based controller here with a few buttons around it. Similar to the knob controllers in the Hyundai Genesis, the Hyundai Equus. There's an available 12.3 inch center display here that replaces traditional analog gauges. There's also an available Lexicon stereo. Let's take a look at the backseat. Backseat has plenty of leg room here. That's where I'd sit to drive and I'm six feet tall. Good high seating position here as well as good headroom. Not a combination you always find, even in certain large sedans. Standard features for people back here include rear side sunshades here, a power rear sunshade, heated rear seats. The K900 offers a VIP package. That gets you through security faster. It also gets you on the plane faster than group one. Not really. Actually, it does get you power rear seats. It also gets you cooled rear seats in back. Definitely some extra toys if you want to entertain those passengers you bring along. A lot of mechanical similarities exist between the K900 and the Hyundai Genesis, but there are a few more upscale toys here in the Kia. And that's something Kia done many times over with corporate cars that are similar cars, from the Forte all the way up through the Optima. Stay tuned for more, once the car goes on sale in early 2014. (engine revving)