New Rio to join Picanto on Kia’s Geneva stand

Kia will unveil its next generation Rio supermini alongside the latest Picanto city car at next month’s Geneva Motor Show, and put it on UK sale in September.

The five-door Rio will appear in showrooms first, with a three-door joining the line-up in early 2012.

While boasting bold styling to match other recent Kia launches, the new Rio is also big on practicality. Its wheelbase has been extended by 70mm, freeing up significantly more interior space and boosting the hatchback cargo capacity to 292 litres.

Both the overall length and width are extended, by 55 and 25mm respectively, while the height shrinks by 15mm. Inside these confines Kia promises quality upgrades more familiar to drivers of much larger cars.

Kia hasn’t given specific details about the engines, suffice to say that there will be a wide range of fuel-efficient and low CO2 petrol and diesel units, and these will include a 1.1-litre diesel of 69bhp with emissions of just 85g/km, and from 2012 a 1.2 Gasoline Direct Injection performance engine.

Kia Director of Overseas Marketing, Soon-Nam Lee, says that the new Rio is a big step forward; “The Rio has always been successful, and with this new incarnation we have a car that people will want to buy for its looks.”

Words by: Andrew Charman