Kia says KV7 Concept presages some sort of production model; Hamstars to return?

Kia KV7 Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

The Kia KV7 Concept isn’t only a concept. At the Detroit Auto Show this week, Michael Sprague, Kia’s vice president of marketing, told Autoblog “We tend to use auto shows to presage what will be coming,” and referenced the Kia Kue Concept from 2007 revealing the brand’s design intent as precursor to the Sportage, then the Kia Koup Concept in 2008 and Soul Concepts in 2009 leading to their respective production versions.

The question is what we might see on the retail floor; certainly not the lounge-like seating, the full-length LED dash, or the gill-like LED headlights. Sprague tells AB, “With the KV7 what we see coming eventually is materials on the vehicle that we’d like to see incorporated. Or getting a Kia that’s Wi-Fi enabled, it’s just a question of how soon.” Could this hint at a successor to Kia’s aging Sedona/Carnival minivan?

Either way, it’s likely that the brand’s hilarious Hamstars won’t be selling whatever the KV7 turns into. As to how much longer the furry rappers can keep it moving in the Soul’s ad campaign, Sprague admits “We might have another one in us.” Otherwise, the marketing push is that “we’re going to market more sporty as Hyundai goes more premium,” and the brand’s creative like the Sweet Dreams ad stresses “making rational things fun.”

Gallery: Kia KV7 Concept: Detroit 2011