The new Kia Magentis, the Korean firm’s answer to the Ford Mondeo and Skoda Superb, will come to the UK — and it will even offer a budget large estate variant, Autocar has learned.
The new Magentis was launched at the New York motor show earlier this month. Kia is currently debating what to call it in Europe, because it has ruled out keeping the Magentis name. Company insiders are debating between ‘K5’, as the car is known in Korea, and ‘Optima’, as it is known as in the US.
A Kia source revealed that an estate version of the car will be built. When asked about this body style, chief designer Peter Schreyer said, “I would love to do station wagon and coupé versions of the car. The station wagon would only really work for Europe but the coupé would work in the US.”
The new Magentis is longer, wider and lower than the model it replaces, and sits on a longer wheelbase than the outgoing car. This has significantly increased both cabin and luggage space. Autocar understands that it will feature Kia’s next generation of petrol and diesel engines from launch in 2011, and that it will cost from around £17k.
Chas Hallett
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Re: Kia to launch Magentis estate
The Magentis Estate will save Jaguar having to develop a XF Estate. The saloon looks so like the XF to me that Jaguar will just need to re-badge it and save millions in development