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This Is Where The Kia Telluride Is Made

This Is Where The Kia Telluride Is Made

We’ve written extensively about the Kia Telluride and its capabilities on this blog. Today we’re going to look at where the Telluride is made. This seems to be a straightforward question, but this car consists of many components (engine, transmission, tires, etc.) made in different parts of the world. Let’s start with a quick answer:

The Kia Telluride is only assembled in West Point, Georgia. The Telluride has a 3.8L Lamda II V6 engine made in Montgomery, Alabama. The 8-speed automatic A8LF1 transmission is also made in West Point, Georgia.

However, that certainly doesn’t answer the question entirely. Below, we’ll first dive into detail about the assembly location. After, that we’ll give you the complete rundown of where the engines are made, and we’ll do the same for all transmissions used in this vehicle. Finally, we’ll talk about how to identify which tires you have and where they are manufactured precisely. Read on!

Also read: 14 Common Problems Of The Kia Telluride

Assembly Locations Per Generation

The Kia Telluride started production in February 2019 and was ready for the dealerships in 2020. Unlike many other Kia cars, the Telluride is only available in the United States and Canada. This is because the car is only assembled in West Point, Georgia.

This is the location of Kia’s only assembly location in North America. Furthermore, the car is not exported to any other continent or country (also not Korea) because importing it from the United States would bring high costs.

Instead, the Korean market relies on the similar Hyundai Palisade to take the place of the Kia Telluride. This sounds strange; however, Hyundai is the parent company of Kia, and therefore doing it this way isn’t all that weird.

1) West Point, Georgia

Engines

Because the Telluride is very similar to the Palisade, this also means the car shares significant components with its counterpart. The engine option is one of them. The Kia Telluride has a 3.8L Lambda II V6 engine (which the Hyundai Palisade also has). However, the Telluride lacks the 3.5L version of this engine and a diesel option.

The 3.8L Lambda II V6 engine is made in Montgomery, Alabama. Precisely at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant. This is because Hyundai manufactures many engines for Kia; also, this is the only Hyundai-Kia plant that manufactures engines in North America. The Alabama plant of Hyundai is quite close to the Georgia assembly plant of Kia, which makes logistics reasonably easy.

1) Montgomery, Alabama

Also read: Types Of Gas A Kia Telluride Takes (Explained)

Transmissions

Like the Palisade, the Kia Telluride uses an 8-speed automatic A8LF1 transmission.

Transmissions for most Hyundais and some Kia, including the Kia Telluride, are made by Hyundai TRANSYS, a merger of Hyundai Powertech and Hyundai DYMOS. These subsidiaries of Hyundai have been making transmissions for Hyundai and Kia since 2001. Hyundai TRANSYS has multiple locations worldwide, but the prominent manufacturing locations are in West Point, Georgia; Southfield, Michigan; and Rizhao City, Shandong, China.

In the case of the Kia Telluride, it is logical to assume that the A8LF1 transmission is made in West Point, Georgia, since the Telluride is assembled here. All other locations simply manufacture the same transmission for different cars or other markets.

Tires

Furthermore, we feel it’s also essential to see which OEM tires the Telluride has. By researching forums, we found the following: the Kia Telluride with FWD has Pirelli tires, whereas the Telluride with AWD has Michelin tires.

It’s always difficult to say with 100% certainty where these tires are made. This is especially true because tire manufacturers have dozens of locations worldwide, and they also import and export a fair share of their tires. However, in the case of North America, it’s likely that tires that are made here are, for a large part, also sold here.

Michelin has four locations in the USA where they manufacture passenger tires. These are as follows:

  • Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  • Ardmore, Oklahoma
  • Greenville, South Carolina
  • Lexington, South Carolina

For Pirelli, their manufacturing locations are as follows:

  • Hanford, California
  • Madison, Tennessee
  • Rome, Georgia
1 – 4: Michelin location in order as stated above, 5-7 Pirelli locations in order as stated above

Who Designed The Telluride?

The first and only generation of the current Kia Telluride is designed by Tom Kearns. Tom is the Chief Designer at Kia Design Center America. He has been with Kia since 2004 and, before that, he spent 17 years with General Motors in the United States and Europe. Furthermore, the Telluride isn’t the only car Kearns has designed for Kia. The original Kia Soul and the Forte are also on his achievement list.

Sources

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