Kia has presented the renewed Morning in its home country of South Korea. This also ensures a good morning in the Netherlands. The Morning is simply the Picanto and that means that we now also have the facelifted Picanto in the picture!
The Picanto and its Hyundai brother, the i10, are not quite in step. The current generation Kia Picanto was introduced to the world three years ago, while we only got to know the brand new i10 last year. That means that the compact Kia has a few years more experience, years that the brand tries to cover up with a mild facelift.
Although the facelifted Picanto has been renewed on several points, the adjustments are not earth-shattering. Kia’s smallest is especially recognizable as Picanto. The compact five-door gets new headlights with four LED elements and the grille is not only decorated with a chrome-colored frame, but also with two chrome-colored strips. In the renewed bumper we see two silver-colored design elements and larger cooling openings. A small side note about the exterior changes: the Morning in these photos is executed in a taste that is Urban, a taste in which the Kia is just a bit tastier. We aim for the shown version to be similar to the GT-Line variant of the yet to be revealed renewed European Picanto.
The interior changes are rather brief. Kia gives the Picanto a revised 8-inch large infotainment screen and the 4.2-inch display between the clocks in the instrument panel is different in shape. In Korea, with its new infotainment system, the Morning can use a digital assistant. In addition, the system can be linked to a telephone application that allows you to remotely control the climate control. The system can even be linked to ‘smart devices’ that you have at home. Here too, the European Picanto to be renewed may differ in detail.
Currently, the Picanto in the Netherlands is only available with the 67 hp atmospheric 1.0, the 100 hp 1.0 T-GDI was previously removed from the price list. The 67 hp 1.0 is now a few percent more economical. What will happen to the availability of the 100 hp 1.0 T-GDI in the Netherlands remains to be seen. Kia expands the list of available safety systems in South Korea with Blind-Spot Collisino-Avoidance Assist, Rear Cross Traffic Collisino Avoidance Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Warning and Forward Collision Avoidance Assist.
Official information about the renewed Picanto will follow later. Again, all of the above changes refer to the Morning, the Picanto as it is called in South Korea.