Kia has been spied checking out what seems to be the next-generation Cerato in the United States, dressed in a lot bolder styling.

A video printed on YouTube via Kindel Auto displays the next-generation sedan dressed in Michigan quantity plates. This new automobile used to be in the past spied in Korea dressed in CL4 markings on its tyres, the interior designation for a higher Cerato.

America marketplace lately will get the Cerato in sedan guise below the Uniqueness nameplate, whilst it’s referred to as the K3 in Korea. Europe will get a unique, albeit automatically comparable, small automotive known as the Ceed.

Just like the just lately printed K3 sedan, which is changing the Rio in markets like Mexico, this prototype includes a extra fastback-style silhouette than the present Cerato sedan, with a steeply raked rear roofline.

In contrast to the K3 and K5 sedans, on the other hand, the rear door handles are hid throughout the C-pillar.

There’s no mistaking this as the rest rather than a Kia, with the prototype dressed in the emblem’s new front- and rear-end styling with unique lights assemblies within the form of an L tipped on its facet.

The inner stays shrouded, so it’s unclear if it’ll be a in a similar way dramatic departure from the present automotive.

The Korean Automobile Weblog studies the brand new fashion may just use a model of the present Cerato’s platform and powertrains, however probably achieve a hybrid choice. That may give Kia a rival to the hybrid Hyundai i30 Sedan, belatedly arriving in Australia this yr, and the Toyota Corolla Hybrid.

The K3 nameplate used to be in the past used at the Cerato in some markets, resulting in hypothesis that, with the advent of the brand new Rio-replacing K3, Kia’s next-gen small automotive may well be known as the K4.

The K4 nameplate used to be in the past used on a Chinese language-market sedan, made out of 2014 to 2020, that slotted between the Cerato and Optima in measurement.

Even though it has axed the Rio hatchback in the neighborhood, Kia has dedicated to sticking round within the extra inexpensive finish of the passenger automotive marketplace in Australia.

Kia Australia leader govt officer Damien Meredith instructed CarExpert the small passenger automobile section has historically saved the corporate rolling.

“I feel our small passenger automobiles – Picanto, Rio, Cerato – shaped the basis for our enlargement,” mentioned Mr Meredith.

“[The small passenger car segment has] been in point of fact essential to us, and in particular Picanto and Cerato will proceed to be essential to us.”

“We’re lovely assured that the Cerato and Picanto will proceed to promote rather smartly over a protracted time frame,” added Mr Meredith.

“They’re certainly one of our nice strengths. The place different producers abandoned [the small car] section, we saved on entering into the ones spaces.”

This necessarily confirms there can be up to date and new-generation variations of the Picanto and Cerato sooner or later.

The Picanto, just like the Sorento and Carnival, has been handled to an EV9-style facelift as Kia rolls out its new, bolder entrance and rear finish styling around the vary.

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