Kia draws back the curtains to reveal new Morning

Three years after making its world debut in the run-up to the Geneva Motor Show, Kia has revealed the facelift Picanto in South Korea destined for other markets, including South Africa, later this year.

Known as the Morning in its home market, the revisions consists of a more aggressive front bumper, new LED daytime running lights that combines with the lower surround of the restyled Tiger Nose grille, a new rear bumper with not only faux chrome exhaust outlets, but also an imitation diffuser, 3D taillight clusters, chrome window surrounds and newly designed 16-inch alloy wheels.

Inside, and likely to depend on the trim level, the Morning receives a new eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth, Voice Recognition and standard satellite navigation, coloured trim around the air vents and transmission tunnel, a 4.2-inch TFT instrument cluster display and on the safety front, Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, Blind Spot Collision Avoidance Assist, Rear and Side Collision Prevention Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Warning and Rear Cross Traffic Collision Avoidance Assist.

Up front, the Morning is motivated by Kia’s new 1.0-litre three-cylinder Smartstream petrol engine that sends its 56kW/95Nm to the front wheels via a four-speed automatic gearbox. Expect European spec models however to include not only this engine, but also the 62kW/122Nm 1.2-litre petrol plus the 1.0 T-GDI outputting 74kW/175Nm. A five-speed manual ‘box is set to be standard with the mentioned auto being a cost option.

In its home market, the Morning kicks-off at 11 950 000 won (R180 805), but expect specification to differ when it does become available on local shores later in the year.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.