Kia woke up and came back to the mainstream.
Kia’s design department went through a recent rough patch, during which they headed in a rather oblique direction with the look of the front of their vehicles.
The 2017 Kia Sportage typifies their ugly period. (Let’s just be honest.) You’ll see that in the left side of the photo montage above. Think of a carp’s face.
They finally decided to come back to the rest of the automotive universe. The right side of the photo montage is the 2021 Kia Sorrento.
The face is the most important part of any car design. We can relate to a car’s mouth (grille) and its eyes (headlights).
For the 2021 Sorrento, they decided to go in a more snarling mean-looking direction. It works. SUVs are supposed to be rugged.
The left photo is courtesy of Car & Driver. The right photo is courtesy of Kia. Both are not used with permission.