Kia Prepares To Unveil New Ceed Hatch For Europe

Kia will use the Geneva Motor Show in March to reveal its third-generation Ceed small hatch, a model which should further strengthen Kia’s design-led resurgence.

Just one design sketch has been officially issued for far, but the South Korean brand used the 2017 Geneva event to reveal its Proceed concept, which hints at some of the new model’s styling themes.

While the Ceed will be closely related to the recently-revealed Cerato sedan from a mechanical point of view, the two will offer unique though similar styling, with a five-door Cerato hatch yet to be revealed.

The Ceed is also expected to use a more sophisticated multi-link independent rear suspension compared to the torsion beam suspension of the Cerato - though an eventual turbocharged Cerato GT model may also adopt the more premium setup.

The Cerato will sell in markets across Asia, Australia, and the United States (where it is known as the Forte, pictured above), however the Ceed takes a Eurocentric approach with design and engineering work carried out exclusively for Europe and the UK.

Amongst the changes to the new Ceed is a slightly different name - previously styled as cee’d the new car ditches the awkward and unnecessary punctuation and simply becomes ‘Ceed’ which stands for Community of Europe, with European Design.

Alongside the hatch previewed in the teaser image, Kia promises a second member of the Ceed family which could be either a sporty five-door liftback as per the Proceed concept (below), or a more traditional wagon version.

As for Australia, with the Cerato range due to be replaced by the end if 2018 the Ceed is an unlikely starter, particularly if Kia follows Hyundai Europe’s lead and fits the Ceed range with the same efficiency-focussed 87kW 1.0-litre and 102kW 1.4-litre engines as the European i30 in light of Australia’s preference for more powerful and larger displacement small cars.

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