New Kia Picanto - India Bound?

After releasing the design sketches of the all-new Kia Picanto last month, Hyundai-owned Kia Motors today revealed the official images of the new-gen model. This is the third generation Picanto hatchback and comes with all-new styling and a host of new features. Currently, the Picanto is the smallest offering from the South Korean carmaker and is globally one of Kia's best-selling cars with some great following in the UK and European markets. In fact, Kia's entry into India was confirmed a few months ago by us and the Picanto is certainly a car that the Korean maker must get to India soon. We have told you way Kia is coming to India, and considering all that it has to offer, the car could very well be a volume churner for Kia Motor in India.

The Kia Picanto is roughly the same size as a Hyundai Grand i10, which is also up for a generation upgrade this year. The new Picanto revealed today comes with Kia's sports-inspired 'GT-Line' specifications like - the new aggressive body kit, bolder character lines and the sculpted surface and flashy red accents. Up front, the car gets Kia's signature grille in black chrome and red highlights flanked by new larger headlamps with projector units and U-shaped LED daytime running lights with eyebrow-like LED light above each headlamp.

New Kia Picanto Front

With the new body kit, the front bumper looks well-sculpted and aggressive and houses the large central airdam with round foglamps at either corner and large vertical air intakes with vibrant red inserts. The side profile has also been updated with new design for the doors, new ORVM, and new alloys. The wheelbase of the car has been increased by 15mm and now measures 2400mm instead of 2385mm. This means more space inside the cabin.

New Kia Picanto Cabin

The interior is also new and is equipped with several new comfort and convenience features and the styling is in line with the exterior of the car. The black cabin gets red borders for the seats and red stitching for the leather-wrapped steering wheel, gear lever and side arm rest. The cabin uses a lot of soft touch plastic and high-quality material, while the new dashboard features a 'floating' touchscreen infotainment system. There is a new multifunctional three-spoke steering wheel, vertical air con vents, and new instrument cluster giving an upmarket feel to the car.

New Kia Picanto Rear

Other specification and powertrain option will only be confirmed at the official unveiling of the car which will take place at the 2017 Geneva International Auto Motor Show in March. That said you can expect to see small, turbocharged petrol or diesel motors. As mentioned earlier, the Kia Picanto is based on the same platform that the Grand i10 and could possibly get similar engines both in petrol and diesel options when it makes it to India.