kia pro cee d

Longer, lower, bolder look for new pro_cee’d

“We wanted to make pro_cee’d as ’sporty’ as a cee’d could possibly be, while still remaining a member of our cee’d family,” explains Gregory Guillaume, Chief Designer Kia Motors Europe. “We are proud that the appearance of the production car remains so close to the concept we showed at the Paris Motor Show last year and only the frameless doors have been dropped.

The three-door, Kia pro_cee’d is such a comprehensive re-working of the cee’d design theme that only the bonnet and the front wing panels are carried over from the five-door. All other exterior panels are new and exclusive to this model. However, like its family siblings, pro_cee’d has a similar ‘tough not rough’ appearance, combining strongly solid forms with sensitively flowing lines, jewel-like detailing and a broad stance.

“With the pro_cee’d production car we have communicated sportiness mostly through the car’s exterior design,” continues Guillaume. “At the front, we have extended the nose by 10 mm and pulled down the mass by introducing a shallower grille, new-style headlamps, a wider, lower bumper with a prominent lip spoiler, a deeper central air intake that is wider at the bottom than the top and larger fog lights set into elliptical depressions.

2010 Kia Pro Ceed

Although the pro_cee’d roofline is 30 mm lower than its hatchback sibling, the 2650 mm wheelbase is retained, so the cabin has most of the cee’d’s proven practicality and versatility, with generous legroom and shoulder room. The new roofline and sloping C-pillar design bring about a small reduction in headroom – down 30 mm in front and 40 mm in the rear, but two 1.70-metre adults can sit comfortably in the rear.

Luggage capacity is also generous for this type of vehicle, totalling 340 litres – loaded up to the bottom of the rear windows and including 55 litres of storage in moulded trays beneath the floor, fitted as standard – just like the hatchback and the Sporty Wagon. The total capacity with the rear seats folded is class-competitive and only slightly down on the five-door cee’d hatchback.