Kia Ceed to get crossover, shooting brake variants

The new Kia Ceed range is set to get two new bodystyles. Autocar reports that the C-segment Euro model will spawn a shooting brake and a sporty-looking ‘dynamic crossover’, due late-2018 and mid-2019 respectively. The latest generation Ceed five-door hatchback surfaced in February, a month before the Sportswagon estate made its debut.

There’s no more three-door hatch now due to low demand, which “opens up an opportunity for an additional body type,” according to Kia Europe’s sales and marketing boss Artur Martins. That new body type is the shooting brake, the UK mag says, pointing us to the rather fetching Proceed Concept from Frankfurt 2017 for a preview.

While the shooting brake will be “the most aggressive styled Ceed”, the Ceed-based crossover is expected to more closely resemble the rest of the range. Kia already has the Sportage and B-segment Stonic SUVs, but “there is plenty of room between the Stonic and the Sportage for a new crossover,” according to Kia European design boss Gregory Guillaume.

The AC report says that the next-generation Sportage – set to be launched around 2021/22 – will grow in size to make room for the new “Ceed SUV”. Both spinoffs will share the current Ceed’s 2.6m wheelbase.

Why a shooting brake? Why not? Martins said the youthful Korean brand believes that “the gigantic trend to SUVs won’t end, but the most progressive customers who were looking at SUVs five, six years ago, see SUVs as mainstream now and are looking for different stuff.

“If it’s our Qashqai moment, then it’d be a dream, of course. I don’t think it’ll go that far, but 20-25% of the mix [of Ceed estate sales] would be success for it,” he told Autocar.

Kia thought about a Stinger-style fastback body too, but couldn’t make it work for a small footprint. “For a fastback to look right, you need a long roofline and a certain overall length to develop the shape,” Guillaume said.

The report adds that while much of the development has taken place at the Nuburgring, the new Kias will not be outright performance cars, but design-led models. “We’re not looking for extreme performance like Hyundai with N. The idea is to lead from a design perspective, and have something really nice. The C segment is so mature; the way to stand out is with special design,” Martins said.

Away from the upcoming shooting brake and crossover, the regular Ceed hatchback is set to receive a hot GT variant next year. The higher performance GT ingredients could also go into the shooting brake.

GALLERY: Kia Proceed Concept

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