How the Kia Cerato 2022 became the first model to score the brand's new badge in Australia

Kia Australia didn’t want to debut its new badge on the Cerato because the logo didn’t look good on the small car, according to a senior executive.

Speaking to CarsGuide, Kia Australia’s general manager of product planning Roland Rivero said the futuristic looking lettering of the new logo was designed to suit the next decade of cars to come from the brand, not the old models which sport an oval badge.

Mr Rivero revealed he hoped to debut the new badge on the next-generation Sportage, but bosses back in South Korea needed the roll-out of the new logo done sooner. That meant fitting the new badge to the Cerato, but according to Mr Rivero there was one problem – it didn’t look good on the front of that car.

“To me it would have been perfect if we’d launched the badge with the new Sportage – you know new car, new design, new logo,” he said.

Instead, the Cerato was chosen as the first Kia in Australia to wear the badge, but Mr Rivero said the logo looks so modern that it didn’t match the front styling of the Cerato. Designers were then brought in it to restyle the Cerato’s face to match the new badge.

“The new logo wouldn’t have looked good on the pre-face lift Cerato – it just wouldn’t have matched. I’m glad the designers tried to make it match. A bit of sheet metal change here and there, and plastics can work wonders so that you can make it more in line with the new logo,” he said.

“They did a pretty good job of it. The first couple of attempts weren’t sensational, or didn’t properly align, but you provide feedback and then they fine tune it to a level that matches better.”

The facelifted Cerato arrived in June this year with a new, narrower grille, redesigned headlights and running lights, and of course, wearing the new badge.

But can a Kia dealer fit the new badge on your older Cerato?

“The answer to that is, no,” Mr Rivero said.

“And this is why the change of moving the old logo to the new one took a bit of time, and that is because it did require some development work to the panels. Various panels where the old badge would have been attached to had to be flattened out because there’s actually an indent into the panel where the old logo shaped logo sat nicely. And that is probably the biggest challenge.”

The 2022 Kia Cerato range starts with a list price of $25,490 before on-road costs for the entry grade S and tops out at the GT for $35,290.