Up front, both crossovers feature variations on the same somewhat anonymous grille as the H600 sedan. The K550’s grille is a bit shorter than the tall, truck-like version on the K750. The K550’s front bumper is designed like the sedan’s as well, just a little taller, and with a skid-plate inspired trim piece at the base. The K750’s bumper appears to flip the chrome hockey stick motifs found on the smaller sedan and crossover, and adds air intakes.
The rest of the SUVs differ more. The K550 has a lower greenhouse, raked rear glass, and more pronounced haunches. Overall, it looks lower and sportier than the big K750. The K750 has a very tall roof with loads of glass area. The D-pillar is more upright, and it ends before reaching the lower part of the body, providing the floating-roof look that is so en vogue. It is clear that both SUVs are related, though, as they both have very gentle, smooth surfacing shared with the H600 sedan.
Inside, the dashboards of both crossovers are virtually identical to each other, and the sedan. This means they have oodles of real estate dedicated to display screens, and are punctuated by slim sections of leather and metal. The only evident difference in dashboards is that the K750 adds a second screen tier above the instrument panel and infotainment. The seats do bear a few differences. The upholstery designs are different, and the K750’s front seats have large video screens on the backs. While Pininfarina says the K550 is a five-passenger vehicle, and the K750 seats seven, neither is configured that way. The K550 has a fixed center console for the rear bench, and the K750 has captain’s chairs for both back rows. Also noteworthy is the large amount of rear legroom in both crossovers, a necessity for Chinese-market machines.
The powertrain is still a bit of a mystery. Pininfarina says the crossovers are powered by the same kind of “micro-turbine” hybrid found in the H600. In the sedan, the system was quoted as producing 800 horsepower, and providing a range of 620 miles. You may want a salt shaker for those stats. We should know more when the cars approach production.
Though neither company has revealed dates for production vehicles, Pininfarina says it will be working with Hybrid Kinetic for about 46 months on these vehicles. This is the result of a $68 million deal a couple of months ago to work with Hybrid Kinetic, on not just designing, but developing and validating production cars. So expect to see a production model sometime in the next four years.
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