Kia Telluride Gears Up For Rebelle Rally With 1.5-Inch Lift And Skid Plates

This year's Rebelle Rally starts on October 12, and Kia will campaign a modified 2024 Telluride X-Pro SUV. The automaker made minor tweaks to the model before letting it head across roughly 1,600 miles of California and Nevada desert.

The Telluride features several upgrades, including a roof rack and front and rear bumpers from Baja Forged. The new bumpers increase the SUV's approach and departure angles, working with the 1.5-inch suspension lift to improve the model's off-road capability and giving it nearly 10 inches of ground clearance.

Kia protects the vehicle's oily bits with skid plates, with BFGoodrich T/A K02 tires wrapping around eighteen-inch KMC716 wheels that sit at all four corners. The Telluride also receives tow hooks, just in case.

Verena Mei will be driving the Telluride in this year's rally. Susie Saxton will serve as the navigator. Steven Center, Kia America's COO and executive vice president, said the company is "eager to see" what the Telluride X-Pro can accomplish in this year's event.

This isn't Kia's first time racing the Rebelle Rally with a Telluride. The automaker took the SUV to its first outing in 2020, narrowing missing a first-place finish. Last year, the automaker entered the rally with a modified 2023 Sportage, which raced alongside a Santa Cruz pickup from Hyundai. In 2021, the automaker campaigned two 2022 Sorento PEHV crossovers, which took second and third place.

Kia updated the Telluride for the 2023 model year. It gave the boxy SUV a visual facelift, including new bumpers, updated lights, and other tweaks. The automaker also added two new rugged-ish trims. The automaker carried over the 3.8-liter V6 engine from the previous model year, which continued to produce 291 horsepower.

For the 2024 model year, Kia added amber daytime running lights and increased the entry-level model's starting price to $37,355 (the prices include the $1,365 destination charge). It's $100 more expensive than before. The 2024 Telluride X-Pro is much more expensive, starting at $51,650, but it does comes with all-wheel drive.

This year's Rebelle Rally takes place from October 12 to the 21. It was the first women's off-road navigation rally raid in the United States. This year's outing is the event's eighth running since starting in 2016.