What is it?
Sort of a massive box on massive wheels, but with the added bonus of asymmetry by way of a strange gullwing door. Who wouldn't want to look at that? Or live inside it, for that matter? Yes, the KV7 is Kia's first motor show flourish for 2011, and is complete with rotating seats (just four of them, mind, which isn't really enough for true people carrier status) and an inbuilt tabletop touch screen computer.
Why's it here?
It's here because it's Kia's "future vision for the MPV segment" and comes because "rather than reject the box we chose to celebrate it, just like we did with the Soul." Fair enough. It has wi-fi and we can see that becoming common soon.
It's absolutely massive, at almost five metres long, and is the sort of flight of fancy everybody likes to see at a motor show. Then forget about until it inspires the indicator lenses of a production model. Expect that to happen in 2013.
Show stopper or floor filler?
It's not necessarily a show stopper, but it's adequate justification for citizens of Detroit to make their way to the Cobo Center and pay the admission price; cars like these make shows like this more interesting. Quite fast it is too, in theory, what with its 285hp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, although it probably weighs three tonnes. It could be powered by Heston Blumenthal's toaster for all it matters - it will never see the light of day. We still like it though.