New Kia Picanto reaches UK Shores

The new Kia Picanto goes on sale today after debuting at the Geneva Salon in March.

Peter Schreyer, designer of the original Audi TT, has transformed the Korean car maker’s portfolio since he took over as Chief Design Officer.  His first work was the Focus/Golf-sized C’eed but, since then, we’ve seen him perform magic on the Sportage and Sorrento SUVs, the Soul and the Venga.  Now it’s time for Kia’s supermini to get a fresh new image, ahead of the Fiesta-sized Rio receiving a (very welcomed!) new look.

The Picanto goes from budget brand transport appliance to something you might actually want to own.  Beyond the new look is a ground up engineering rework too, with new 1.0 and 1.25 litre Kappa family petrol engines bringing the supermini under the 99g/km CO2 emissions level which means zero rated UK Road Fund Licence and no London Congestion Charge fee (for now at least).  Fuel consumption is as good as 67.3mpg on the EcoDynamics version, an improvement of 9mpg over the outgoing model.  These updates give the new car all it needs to complete with the best of the Europeans in the segment, like the Citroen C1, Peugeot 107, Ford Ka and Fiat Panda.

The five door model starts from £7,995 on the road.  For the first time a three door model will be available, but not until later this year.  As with all new Kias, the Picanto comes with a seven year or 100,000 mile fully transferable warranty.

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