Kia’s Light Tactical Vehicle Is More Hummer Than Telluride

Kia has made a name for itself as a manufacturer of attractively priced and, as of lately, quite competent cars and SUVs. In South Korea, though, it produces all sorts of vehicles that never make it to this side of the Pacific. Like this military truck, for example.

It’s called the Kia Light Tactical Vehicle, or KLTV for short, and it looks a lot closer to an AM General Humvee than it does to, say, the Sportage, Sorento, or the new Telluride.

The version currently produced is actually the third generation of its type, produced primarily for military applications. Like the original Humvee, it’s built atop a modular platform that allows for a wide variety of configurations on two wheelbase lengths. So defense procurators can get them in just the setup they need, with payload capacities as high as seven tons.

In whatever configuration, the KLTV is motivated by a turbodiesel engine sending 225 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. It’ll climb 60% gradients and ford rivers up to two and a half feet deep in KLTV141 armored command vehicle spec.

It’ll do just about anything that a Humvee will, in short – getting troops where they need to be, hauling all their equipment, and looking the part in the process. Only instead of being built in Indiana, it’s built in South Korea.

Of course, it’s not the only one of its type, either: Italian manufacturer Iveco (once part of the Fiat group) makes one called the Light Multirole Vehicle (LMV), Spain’s URO offers the VAMTAC, Venezuela’s Tiuna makes one dynamically named the UR-53AR50, and GAZ produces the Tigr in Russia.

Even Lamborghini once went after the military market with the LM002, and Toyota used to make one similar called the Mega Cruiser. So while AM General’s Humvee may be the most recognizable, and probably the most prolific, it’s not the only option for this type of multi-purpose military vehicle.