In recent years one of the easiest ways that automakers have extracted more money out of consumers is by offering a “murdered out” look in which most or all of the exterior trim is blacked out, whether it be a special edition, a distinct trim level or just an appearance package you can select. Most of those blackout packages are purely cosmetic, and sometimes they don’t even extend to all of the trim — maybe the badges will still be bright, or the door handles. Regardless, people love the all-black apperance so much that you can get such a look on a huge range of cars, from affordable compacts to big luxury SUVs.
The latest car to offer a blackout package is the 2026 Kia EV9 with its new Nightfall Edition, which just made its debut at the New York Auto Show. In addition to darkening all of the exterior trim and adding unique design features like new wheels and a new paint color, the EV9 Nightfall actually has more torque for increased performance, a serious rarity when it comes to this sort of thing. It helps that it looks pretty great, too.
Boost, baby, boost
Kia based the Nightfall Edition on the EV9’s dual-motor all-wheel-drive Land trim level, which slots underneath the top-spec GT Line. It has gloss black accents for the nose, bumpers, skid plates, side skirts, roof rails, side mirrors, and emblems, which all looks pretty nice. New 20-inch wheels have a sweet six-spoke design, and Kia is offering the Nightfall in an exclusive Roadrider Brown paint color that it sadly didn’t send us photos of. The shade is described as “an eye-catching earthtone signature color that underscores the EV9’s desire to venture off the beaten path.”
While the Nightfall Edition has the same 379 horsepower as other dual-motor EV9s, it comes standard with a Boost function that ups torque from 443 pound-feet to 516 lb-ft. That means the EV9 Nightfall will go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds according to Kia, which is 1.2 seconds quicker than a normal dual-motor EV9 and half a second quicker than one that has the Boost function enabled (you can buy it through the EV9’s app store). 2026 model year EV9s have also switched to the NACS charge port to give easier Tesla Supercharger access.
Mondrian-esque seats
Unsurprisingly the Nightfall Edition only comes with a black interior, which is too bad, but the seats do have a very cool asymmetrical Mondrian-esque stitching pattern. The Nightfall also gets a black headliner, where normal EV9s have a light gray one even when you go for the black color scheme. A six-passenger setup with captain’s chairs in the second row is standard, but you can get a three-across second-row bench as an option.
Kia says the EV9 Nightfall Edition will be available in the second quarter of 2025, and the brand hasn’t yet said how much it will cost. Now that the EV9 is being produced at Kia’s factory in West Point, Georgia — EV9 GT aside, which is built in South Korea — the SUV now qualifies for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit, at least until the Trump administration takes it away. More details about the rest of the 2026 model year EV9 should be released soon, but we’re probably another year or two away from a facelift.
