Bold new look for heavily updated Kia Picanto

Leaked images of the heavily updated Kia Picanto show boldly redesigned front and rear ends and a lightly restyled interior. 

The new Picanto, one of the cheapest and smallest cars on sale today, is set to be revealed in the coming weeks and will adopt styling cues from Kia’s new ‘Opposites United’ design language to bring it into line with newer models, including the Sportage, Sorento, EV6 and EV9. 

The images, leaked by Autospy, show a prominent ‘Tiger Nose’ front grille, vertical LED headlights with EV9-inspired daytime-running lights and an LED rear light bar.

The boot release has been moved to just under the light bar, with a rear splitter shown on GT-Line models and restyled alloy designs. The car was also pictured in a pale green colour not before seen on the Picanto. 

Inside, revisions are more subtle. The instrument cluster is now fully digital and the lane positioning looks to be illustrated by a new CGI rendering of the car. Updated graphics appear to feature on the central infotainment touchscreen, which has been largely carried over from the old car.

It is not yet known if the outgoing Picanto’s powertrains will feature on the new car. However, with Kia accelerating toward its target of becoming an electric-only brand by 2035, its combustion-only cars could feature mild-hybrid technology. The current car is only available with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, which pushes out 66bhp in base form and 99bhp in turbocharged guise.