Here are the first officially released sketches of the next generation Kia Forte, also known as the Kia Cerato in certain countries. And we say officially released because there was a previous sketch leak, showing the design of the new Forte in better detail.

Kia says the all-new C-segment sedan will be longer, wider and lower than the model it replaces, and in its domestic market of South Korea, it will be known under a new name – the Kia K3.

Kia plans to globally unveil the new Kia Forte by the end of this year, and it will go on sale in its domestic market as the Kia K3 this year as well. The international version will start appearing in other countires by Q1 2013. Given that the Forte is locally assembled here in Malaysia, it could take some time before it’s launched here as Naza’s plant has to prepare for it first.

Since the Elantra and Forte share some underpinings, we can predict the specs of the new car based on the newly launched Elantra. We expect the new Forte’s dimensions to be similiar. The Elantra platform has grown in size and has a longer wheelbase of 2,700mm – up by 100mm over the previous Elantra/Forte platform it replaces. Engine choices might also end up being 1.6 and 1.8 instead of the current 1.6 and 2.0.