Kia Reveals Angry Picanto for 2024

The New Kia Picanto 2024

Kia has now officially revealed the Picanto for 2024. Not sitting on their laurels, Kia has refreshed the Picanto with a facelift, giving it much bolder looks – a trend that I suspect began as automotive manufacturers upped the ante a little in order to show that their newer EV models were more cutting edge and on-trend rather than the perfunctory earlier electric vehicles.

In any case, Kia has revealed a new Picanto that has a strong and aggressive frontal looks for those looking in the rear-view mirror.

But aside from such aesthetics, Kia has also stated that the 2024 Picanto will be equipped with tech that, they claim, will make it one of the safest models in its class.

Opposites United

The look of the car is influenced by the brand’s Opposites United philosophy of design, which in the past has given us such striking visuals as the EV9.

Opposites United takes its inspiration from the contrasts that exist in nature and humanity. Well, that could mean almost anything really, so ignoring the usual car-speak, what we can see is a car that inherently gives us a traditional shape, but with the edges tweaked maybe.

Agressive Yet Pleasing Picanto

If we start at the front, the Picanto offers up a Tiger Nose grille, and while ‘aggressive’ can often look unattractive, the new Kia Picanto manages to pull it off and look reasonably pleasing (to my eye at least).

At the rear, a complimentary 3-way LED light-bar features around the boot matching the light-bar at the front for the GT-Line version.

It seems that Kia is aiming the 2024 Picanto at the young professional and younger driver in general with the GT-Line trim.

While it does seem that the peak of the city car fad has now waned slightly, Kia might have seen this as an opportunity to climb an extra rung to two up the ladder in this segment and extend a bit of a stronghold on the market. Time will tell…

Inside, a choice of interior colours comprise Adventurous Green or Rich Brown and a choice of faux-leather seating is available if preferred.

The new Picanto features an 8-inch ‘floating’ touchscreen and hi-res 4.2-inch digital display with connectivity to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

As for those claims for improved safety, the car will get a driver-attention monitoring system and an improvement on the existing Forward Collision System which looks out for cyclists and pedestrians.

Innovative Picanto Safety

Each car comes with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which looks after handling the safety features.

Also included are Intelligent Speed Limit Assist and Lane Following Assist and Rear Cross Traffic Collision Avoidance, which alerts the driver to oncoming left and right traffic. Maybe Kia is right; there’s a lot here to argue that the 2024 Picanto just might be one of the safest in its class.

Front-wheel drive power comes from the usual 1-litre 66bhp plus a slightly more powerful 1.2-litre petrol version will also be available – a choice of more efficiency versus a little more power.

All controlled via a 5-speed manual transmission (5MT) or an auto (AMT) if preferred.

Driving in the city is enhanced with a fast 2.8-turn lock-to-lock steering which improves feel and handling at slower speeds.

With no prices provided by Kia as yet, the Picanto is expected to come in at around £15,000.

How the new upgrades are perceived might surely indicate how the Picanto looks towards the future; a continuation of good sales and we might see more.

Images: kiapressoffice.com