Kia has a new K8 sedan on sale — for the Korean market, at least.
It didn’t exactly set American buyers’ hearts racing when it was on sale here, but the Kia Cadenza was a solid midsize sedan that offered premium features at a budget-friendly price tag. The brand’s midsize sedan didn’t kick the bucket entirely when the Korean automaker withdrew it from the U.S. market in 2020, but it’s instead lived on as the K8. Now, the Korean market Kia K8 gets a bold mid-cycle update, with dramatic styling and a host of interior tweaks to boot.
By “bold”, I’m mainly talking about the styling, which takes on a heavy EV9 vibe from the front end to the new wheels. Around back, it’s not too different than it was before, though there’s a clear resemblance to the smaller K5 and K4 models. Like at the rear, the front also has a long LED strip connecting the vertical headlights (a trope that’s becoming all too common with new Kias these days).
Kia already switched the K8’s instrument and infotainment layout to a dual-screen affair with the last full redesign, though there are still plenty of tweaks. The bezel for the two screens is slightly different, as are the climate controls, which have been moved below the HVAC vents. Kia redesigned the front end of the center console to accommodate dual wireless smartphone chargers, as well as two USB-C ports. Just ahead of the rotary dial for the transmission, there’s a fingerprint scanner for biometric driver profiles, which is another feature that’s made it into Kia and Hyundai’s latest models across the range over the past few years.
The 2025 Kia K8 has a few powertrain options, and unlike the Cadenza, Korean buyers can actually get it with all-wheel drive. Engines are pretty familiar to what we’ve seen here in the U.S., starting with a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder. The base unit puts out 195 horsepower and 183 lb-ft of torque in this application, mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. The upgrade powertrain is a 3.5-liter V6 engine, which ups the output to 296 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque (and offers the option of AWD, unlike the base four-banger).
A hybrid K8 is also available, with 227 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque on tap. Finally, customers over in Korea can pick up a LPI (liquid propane)-powered 3.5-liter engine with 237 horsepower and 231 lb-ft.
Kia’s Korean pricing for the K8 sedan starts at 37.36 million won, which translates to roughly $27,395 at current exchange rates. The top-end “Signature Black” model with the 3.5-liter gas V6 come in at 50.55 million won ($37,000), with the hybrid version costing slightly more. Again, the automaker isn’t planning to bring their midsize sedan back to the U.S., but if they did…that sort of pricing meshes pretty much perfectly above the K5, and still offers remarkably good value against premium nameplates, as the old Cadenza did.
