New Kia Picanto 2021 leaked: Mitsubishi Mirage rival gets a mid-life facelift

Kia Kia News Kia Picanto Kia Picanto News Kia Picanto 2020 Hatchback Best Hatchback Cars Kia Hatchback Range Industry news Showroom News Car News
...
Here’s the facelifted Picanto before you were meant to see it. (Image credit: Korean Car Blog)
Justin Hilliard
Head of Editorial
30 Apr 2020
2 min read

Kia is currently preparing a mid-life facelift for the third-generation Picanto, and we now know what the updated light hatch will look like thanks to a new leak.

Scheduled to be launched by Kia mid-year, the facelifted Picanto has been revealed in two marketing images published by Korean Car Blog, and its changes are relatively minor.

Up front, the Picanto has redesigned headlight clusters with ‘ice cube’ LED daytime running lights, a sharper ‘tiger nose’ grille with a single bisected bar, and a more aggressive bumper with deeper side air intakes.

At the rear, LED bulbs have been added as part of the light hatch’s tweaked tail-light clusters, while the sculpted bumper is much sportier than before, partly thanks to its larger diffuser and split exhaust tailpipes.

No images of the new Picanto’s interior have been revealed yet, but minor changes can be expected.

LED bulbs have been added as part of the light hatch’s tweaked tail-light clusters. (Image credit: Korean Car Blog)
LED bulbs have been added as part of the light hatch’s tweaked tail-light clusters. (Image credit: Korean Car Blog)

It’s worth noting the example shown here is of either the GT-Line or GT variety, meaning other Picanto variants will look somewhat different.

The Australian version of the Mitsubishi Mirage rival is expected to retain its current petrol engine options, including the 62kW/122Nm 1.2-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder and 74kW/172Nm 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder.

Justin Hilliard
Head of Editorial
Justin’s dad chose to miss his birth because he wanted to watch Peter Brock hopefully win Bathurst, so it figures Justin grew up to have a car obsession, too – and don’t worry, his dad did turn up in time after some stern words from his mum. That said, despite loving cars and writing, Justin chose to pursue career paths that didn’t lend themselves to automotive journalism, before eventually ending up working as a computer technician. But that car itch just couldn’t be scratched by his chipped Volkswagen Golf R (Mk7), so he finally decided to give into the inevitable and study a Master of Journalism at the same time. And even with the long odds, Justin was lucky enough to land a full-time job as a motoring journalist soon after graduating and the rest, as they say, is history. These days, Justin happily finds himself working at CarsGuide during the biggest period of change yet for the automotive industry, which is perhaps the most exciting part of all. In case you’re wondering, Justin begrudgingly sold the Golf R (sans chip) and still has plans to buy his dream car, an E46 BMW M3 coupe (manual, of course), but he is in desperate need of a second car space – or maybe a third.
About Author

Comments