The new Kia Picanto has been revealed, featuring bold new exterior in keeping with flagship Kia EV9 electric SUV.
The Kia Picanto has some life left in it still, with the South Korean brand giving it another makeover to keep it fresh in the dwindling city car segment. The model is due to land in Australia later this year.
While many manufacturers have withdrawn their smallest cars in favour of SUVs and crossovers, the Kia Picanto facelift has been given a look inspired by the brand’s flagship Kia EV9 electric SUV. The city car will not get any electrification, however, instead featuring a streamlined petrol engine range.
We had an exclusive opportunity to see the facelifted Kia Picanto in the metal in GT-Line guise ahead of its full reveal, and one of the first things that struck us was the car’s new exterior, which had been more heavily updated than a usual facelift, taking distinct cues from the brand’s latest ‘Opposites United’ design language as seen on the flagship EV9, such as the front and rear light signature and an overall squarer shape.
Exterior colours will also mirror those offered on the EV9, with earthy colours such as the Adventurous Green hero colour, which the brand says contrast with the car’s futuristic shapes as part of the ‘Opposites United’ ethos.
The new Picanto gets on-trend touches, such as full width front and rear light bars. These are unique to the GT-Line trim; non GT-Line cars will get black trim pieces instead. With the new Picanto, the brand is leaning towards styling cues reminiscent of modern EVs, despite the fact that the Picanto will not be available with an electric powertrain.
The exhaust tips are hidden, for example, contrasting with the current GT-Line’s exposed dual tips. The eye-catching pops of red on the sportier flagship version of the outgoing Picanto have been replaced with subtler black trim pieces, too.
As well as changes to the body, the new Picanto gets a few wheel options, the GT-Line car we saw gets alloys with squared-off, angular elements that are new to the lineup.
We were surprised to learn that the new Picanto has the same overall dimensions as the outgoing Picanto, as its new look gives the illusion of a larger car with greater road-presence. When we mentioned this to product expert Andrea De Arcangelis, he said this was a concerted effort by the brand to attract buyers who would have considered the larger, soon-to-be-discontinued Kia Rio.
It’s also a technique other manufacturers have used to adapt their city cars to a market with SUV-inclined tastes.
On the inside, the Picanto’s redesign is less drastic, although new interior colour options, such as Adventurous Green – which mirrors the new hero exterior colour – and Rich Brown, will be offered.
All Picantos will now also get a 4.2-inch digital gauge cluster and there’s also an eight-inch touch-operated infotainment screen compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard. The system will be capable of over-the-air updates to keep it fresh.
A generous list of safety features are included, including a speed limiter and a driving attention monitoring system. The Forward Collision System gets an update that means it now gets a junction collision function, which stops drivers turning into the path of oncoming traffic.