Kia has made a facelift on the Rio X-Line. The compact crossover undergoes the same exterior changes as its sedan brother before. The attentive reader must have already noticed: the renewed Rio X-Line is not intended for the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, we only know Kia’s ‘X-Line’ designation from the Picanto X-Line, a tough-looking version of Kia’s smallest model overloaded with crossover elements. Outside the Dutch borders, Kia also supplies a Rio X-Line, but that is much more than an adventurous version of the Rio. In fact, that type has little to do with the well-known Rio. The Rio X-Line has now been facelifted, time to give the model some attention.
Kia Rio X-Line (2017 – 2020)
It is 2017 when Kia launches the K2 Cross in China, a new hatchback that will be launched in Russia later that year as the Kia Rio X-Line. In black and white, the Rio X-Line is the crossover-style hatchback version of the Rio Sedan that Kia sells in Russia and China. The Rio X-Line and Rio Sedan both use the GB platform that Kia also uses in Europe under the Rio, although the two have a body that differs completely from that of ‘our’ model. The Rio X-Line is 4.24 meters long, which makes the hatchback no less than 17 centimeters longer than the five-door Rio that you can buy in the Netherlands. The wheelbase of the Rio X-Line is 2.6 meters, two centimeters longer than that of the known hatchback. The Sino-Russian sedan brother of the Rio X-Line recently went under the knife and now the high hatchback is being facelifted in a similar way. The car is not only addressed optically. Kia is renaming the Rio X-Line in Russia as Rio X.
Like the Rio Sedan, not to be confused with the Rio Sedan sold by Kia in the United States, the Rio X gets revised headlights with spurs that plunge down into the bumper. In addition, Kia gives the car different bumpers, from which the LED daytime running lights have disappeared. After all, it is housed in the headlight units themselves. The rear bumper is also being adjusted, which is now equipped with a set of new, but closed grilles. The layout of the rear light units has been adjusted and is equipped with vertical LED segments. The engine range is unchanged. The Rio X is also available with a 1.4 of 100 hp and with a 123 hp 1.6.
The Kia Rio X is not coming to the Netherlands.