Thanks to a 24HCAR reader simply named SW, we now have a picture of what is probably Kia's entrée into the luxury sports sedan segment. Kia's chief designer Peter Schreyer reportedly unveiled this sketch of a car referred to as K9 at a design conference near Seoul last Friday.

Schreyer, best known for designing the original Audi TT when he was still at Audi, is said to have compared the car's design prowess to that of the Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series. Kia's plans do include a luxury sedan codenamed the CH, which is scheduled for launch around 2011 and is the sister car to Hyundai's Genesis sedan (codenamed BH). Contrary to Korean media reports that the K9 is in the same league as the Equus, speculation is that this sketch is actually the smaller CH.

Rumoured engines include a petrol V8 for markets like the US in addition to those already used by the Genesis. It could also sport an 8-speed automatic gearbox.