Other direction
The brand new Kia K3 has been presented and it causes the necessary surprise. Not only because of its appearance, but also because of its position in the market. Although the name suggests otherwise, we seem to be dealing with the successor to the Rio.
To be ahead of the jokes; no, in this case K3 has nothing to do with a girl group from Belgium. It is the model name that Kia sticks on its compact mid-sized car in South Korea and China, among other places. The local counterpart of our Ceed. The Kia K3 from South Korea is available in the US as a Forte, among other things, and also has the Cerato badge on the back here and there. The Kia K3 from China is another story, although it is basically the same car, only with a completely different nose and a slightly modified butt. Now Kia presents a new K3 in Mexico. What that is then…
Kia K3
Well, in Mexico Kia also sells and builds the K3 called Forte there. However, the car we see here does not seem to be the successor to it, but to the Rio, also built in Mexico. Yes, just basically the same Rio as we have in the showroom here in the Netherlands for a while. The planned production location of the new K3, Nuevo Leon, is also the place where the Kia Rio now rolls off the line. The biggest hint that it’s the Rio’s successor, though, is its size. Kia is talking about a car in the subcompactclass and the new Kia K3 is a bit smaller than the current K3/Forte/Cerato. With a length of 4.54 meters, it is more than 15 cm longer than the Rio sedan and the wheelbase of 2.67 meters is 9 cm longer. Although the K3 looks quite sturdy, the relatively small wheels also reveal a modest character.
Kia currently only presents the K3 as a fastback, so with a boot lid where the rear window probably does not come up. A hatchback version may also follow later. In any case, this Kia K3 fastback already offers 544 liters of luggage space, which is quite decent for its class. This shows the significant growth spurt compared to the Rio. The whole thing is modernly dressed, with a contemporary interpretation of the Tiger Nose grille and headlights that are reminiscent of those of the Kia EV9 and facelifted Picanto and Sorento. The interior also fits well with the Kia of today. The 4.2-inch digital instrument panel and the 10.25-inch infotainment screen, housed in one panel, are the major eye-catchers in an otherwise unextravagant dashboard. The latter also gives away a bit in which class the K3 will operate.
Kia K3
The Kia K3 initially has three petrol engines on the international engine list: an as yet unexplained 1.4, a 123 hp 1.6 and a 152 hp 2.0. The latter is reserved for the sporty GT line. The Kia K3 has so far been presented for the Mexican market, but will probably cross over to many other (growth) markets worldwide. In the Netherlands we do not have to count on the Kia K3.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl