2018 Kia cee’d undisguised – is this the new Cerato?

Last month, we showed you photos of the new Kia cee’d with its rear end completely uncovered. Now, clearer photos of the third-generation family hatchback have surfaced on the forums of Korean motoring portal MotorGraph, unmasking the entire front of the car as well.

The new face vaguely resembles that of the outlandish Proceed Concept, which was meant to preview a shooting brake version of the car. Sweptback headlights flank a trapezoidal “tiger nose” grille, while an aggressive lower air dam and triangular fog light surrounds sit underneath. It does have a hint of Stinger to its look, don’t you think?

Moving to the side, the longer bonnet gives the cee’d less of an MPV-like monobox look, and a simpler side window graphic can also be seen. The rear is as we’ve seen before, with slim trapezoidal tail lights, deep bumper cutouts and a number plate recess that has been moved from the bumper to the tailgate.

Australian website CarAdvice believes that the cee’d and the Cerato, currently two different models, could be one and the same this time around. Kia has reportedly confirmed that the latter will go on sale Down Under in the middle of the year, and there have yet to be any spyshots of it so far. It would also justify why this mule has been spotted in South Korea, in which the Cerato hatch, badged as the K3 Euro, is sold instead.

Kia’s Australian chief operating officer Damien Meridith told the publication that the two cars will be much closer in concept. “They’ll be a little bit different, [but] I think they’ll be more closely aligned this time,” he said. “I think what the brand’s trying to do in western Europe [with the cee’d] is a little different.”

But such a move would run contrary to what the brand has done before. The first two generations of the cee’d were designed, engineered and almost exclusively sold in Europe, with an almost singular focus of being a rival to the VW Golf. Meanwhile, the Forte and now the Cerato has always catered more towards North American tastes and those of the rest of the world. It also has a sedan version not found in Europe.

In any case, this five-door hatch will form part of a revised cee’d range, which will ditch the pro_cee’d three-door model. That name will instead be used on aforementioned low-slung shooting brake, sitting alongside the more traditional Sportswagon. There will also be a crossover model, following in the footsteps of the Picanto X-Line, along with a hot GT model.

Expect the cee’d to soldier on with updated Euro 6-compliant versions of the existing 1.0 litre turbocharged three-cylinder, 1.6 litre direct-injected four-cylinder and 1.4 litre MPI petrol engines, alongside 1.4 and 1.6 litre CRDi turbodiesels.

GALLERY: Kia Proceed Concept

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