2017 Kia Picanto spotted in the metal

The 2017 Kia Picanto has been spotted in the flesh, ahead of its official reveal at the Geneva motor show. It's the first real look at the car we've had; so far Kia has only released detailed design sketches previewing the look of the new city car.

2017 Kia Picanto revealed in full

The Picanto, which is also known as the Morning in certain Asian markets, was previously revealed in design sketches released by Kia, showing a new front-end design similar to that of the upcoming new Rio. These new images first surfaced on a Facebook fan page. 

Kia’s rival to the Volkswagen Up and Ford Ka+ will be offered in five-door form only, following slow sales of the three-door version of the outgoing car. The new model will be revealed in full at the Geneva motor show in March, before sales commence in the summer.

The decision to drop the three-door Picanto, coupled with Kia’s launch of the Rio as a five-door only mode, suggests a move away from small three-door cars for the brand. A Kia spokesman also pointed out that the Picanto was the first car in the city car segment to be offered as a five-door.

Inside, a simple interior also draws heavily from the Rio supermini, with a dominant central infotainment touchscreen flanked by piano black gloss trim and mounted high atop a considerably less button-heavy dashboard. A raft of technology and safety features new to the Picanto will feature.

On the outside, intricate LED headlights incorporate the grille accents into their design, while contrasting coloured trim appears behind the grille, in the lower air intakes and along the sides of the car on higher-end trims. The rear of the car retains major styling features of the current Picanto. 

Kia says the new Picanto will be available with a greater range of personalisation options, as is evident from the colour accents on the exterior and interior.

We expect to see a slight increase in price for the new Picanto, so entry-level cars will likely start from around £9000.