See all Motoring NewsKia has revealed the new Ceed hatchback, ahead of its official debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. It's a hugely important new model for Kia - in spite of the rise and rise of SUVs, the Ceed in its previous generations has found more than 1.2 million buyers since it was introduced in 2006.
It's also slightly bigger than the outgoing cee'd, at 20mm wider, the same length overall and with a bigger 395-litre boot.
On the outside, the styling uses the expected Kia 'Tiger Face' grille, but the overall shape is a little more square than before, and you can see clear connections between this car and the Hyundai i30 it shares a mechanical package with.
The cabin is all-new, and gets a standard-fit 'floating' touchscreen and lots of soft-touch materials. That touchscreen comes in five-, seven-, or eight-inch sizes and can be optionally paired with a high-end JBL sound system.
As with previous Kia Ceeds, you'll get a Drive Mode Selector that allows you to choose from Normal and Sport settings, while a new addition is a Ford-style heated windscreen. There's also an optional Eco Pack, which includes slightly better aerodynamic performance and low-rolling resistance Michelin tyres.
Standard safety technologies will include High Beam Assist, Driver Attention Warning, Lane Keeping Assist and Forward Collision Warning with Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, while for the first time on a Kia, there's a new semi-autonomous lane-keeping assistant, which helps to keep the car between the lines on the motorway. Other safety kit includes Smart Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Blind Spot Collision Warning, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning, Smart Parking Assist and pedestrian recognition with haptic steering wheel warnings for the Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist system.
On the engine front, the Ceed will come with a new 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol unit with 140hp, sitting alongside the existing 120hp 1.0 turbo three-cylinder petrol. There's also a new 'U3' 1.6-litre diesel engine, with either 115hp or 136hp, and Kia expects CO2 emissions for those models to be below 110g/km on the new WLTP economy test. All engines will come with a standard six-speed manual gearbox, while a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic will be available on the 1.4 turbo and 1.6 diesel engines.
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