Following a European sighting of the
upcoming Kia Picanto facelift in GT Line guise, images of the little Korean
hatchback have been leaked, here wearing the Morning nameplate that it goes by
in its domestic and selected overseas markets, as found found by Korean Car
Blog.
The visual cues on this domestic model appear
to mirror those seen on the unit spotted at a commercial shoot in Frankfurt,
where the lower edge of the ‘tiger nose’ grille is extrapolated into the
headlamps by a matching silver insert on each side. The Korean market car here
wears a pair of silver bars across the grille, instead of red on the European
model.
Here, the headlamps’ four-point LED
daytime running lights appear as illuminated, and the front end is completed by
a front bumper identical to the European car’s, with foglamps within silver housings.Similarly,
its gloss black lower grille trim runs the width of the lower grille, and
extends towards the side intakes. A more
stylised main tail lamp element for each side, the lower sections continuing to
accentuate the curve towards the tailgate’s lower shutline. The rear bumper’s
vent sculpting somewhat reflects those of the front intakes, while the twin
trapezoidal exhaust housings also play on the look of the foglamp housings in
front.
The wheels on this yellow example also
appear to resemble the machine-finished, eight-spoke set on the European car.
Korean Car Blog cites Kia’s three-and-a-half model lifecycle for the Picanto,
which points to the hatchback’s European market debut at the end of this year
or early in 2021, it said.
Business as usual is expected in terms of
powertrain choices for the Picanto, which should continue to feature a 67 PS/96
Nm 1.0 litre three-cylinder and a 84 PS/122 Nm 1.25 litre four-cylinder engine
on the naturally aspirated front. A 100 PS/172 Nm turbocharged, direct-injected
1.0 litre three-pot is expected too, and the range of engines should be paired
with either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.
