2025 Kia K4 sedan ready for debut: Precursor to next-gen Kia Cerato ready to take a Big Apple bite out of four-door Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30, Honda Civic, Mazda 3 and Subaru Impreza

Kia's next-gen small sedan is due to be unveiled at this month's New York motor show.

Kia may be calling it K4, but we're going to call it Cerato because that's what the next-gen small sedan due to be unveiled at this month's New York motor show effectively is.

And teaser images the Korean maker has issued in the lead up to the show's opening on the 27th of this month point to a sleek, coupe-style future for the compact four-door.

In a niche small sedan market segment dominated by the Toyota Corolla, Kia will be hoping its new offering can capture a bigger share against it and other well-credentialed rivals like the Hyundai i30, Honda Civic, Mazda3 and Subaru Impreza.

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No official word yet on powertrains residing under the K4's carefully sculpted body, but reports out of South Korea suggest the K4 shares its underpinnings with its Hyundai i30 sedan cousin, which means at least one hybrid variant is likely.

The Cerato is currently offered here in four grades - the S, Sport and Sport+, powered by a 2.0-litre (112kW/192Nm) four-cylinder petrol engine, and the top-spec GT Turbo which steps up to a 1.6-litre (150kW/265Nm) turbo-petrol four.

Kia may be calling it K4, but we’re going to call it Cerato.

2024 entry price is $27,060, before on-road costs, rising to $36,860, before on-roads, for the GT Turbo.

Set to take a step up in size (the current Cerato measures just over 4.6m long, 1.8m wide and a fraction more than 1.4m tall), the new-generation K4 has been testing in Australia in heavily camouflaged prototype form for some time, which bodes well for dynamic tuning well suited to local conditions.

Stay tuned for all the details when the covers come off the K4 in New York.

No official word yet on powertrains residing under the K4’s carefully sculpted body.

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