Kia’s new Pop concept may provide design cues for future cars, according to the company’s creative supremo, Peter Schreyer.
Though the city car wasn’t created to preview any of Kia’s future products, Schreyer believes that some of its design touches may evolve for Kia’s production cars.
See the pics of the Kia Pop concept
“There were two proposals,” he explained. “The other one was more conventional or realistic, but we went for the different one. The management said, ‘Are you sure?’ But when they saw it, everyone loved it.”
The Pop is three metres long, slightly longer than a Toyota iQ, but around half a metre shorter than the current Picanto. Powered by a 67bhp electric motor, it draws its energy from an innovative lithium polymer gel battery made by LG Chem. This offers the same performance as standard lithium ion batteries but with a considerably lower weight and manufacturing cost.
Read the full story on the Kia Pop concept
An all-new Picanto is due next spring, and will offer a new three-cylinder turbodiesel engine. It also gets Kia’s new ‘tiger’ face.
Schreyer said it wouldn’t just be a smaller Sportage grille. “We shouldn’t put exactly the same grille on every car, like Audi. It’s too limiting,” he said. “I prefer to match the grille to the size of the car.”
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