In the highly competitive small car segment Kia the Rio now better: First pictures show the small car with a more visually striking appearance. The fourth generation of the Korean premiered at the Paris Motor Show (October 1-16).
In profile, the small car now looks crisper than before with a longer, flatter bonnet, longer front and shorter rear overhang and a narrow, upright C-pillar. The dimensions have hardly changed, the wheelbase has been extended by one centimeter, the full length is 1,5 centimeters longer and is now 4,07 meters.
The front is wider and more aggressive, for example due to the narrower and wider “tiger nose grille” and narrower headlights. More edges at the rear make the small car appear wider and less rounded than before. The tidy, modern interior is dominated by a large screen in the center console, including only controls for the air conditioning and buttons such as hazard warning lights. There are also plenty of buttons on the steering wheel.
The new design was developed in Germany and California. The Rio is the best-selling Korean model worldwide, with 2015 units sold in 473.000. Production of the new model is scheduled to begin in Europe at the end of 2016.
(Hanne Schweitzer / SP-X)
