So, BMW’s all-new 2-Series Active Tourer, its first ever front-wheel drive family car is out and it’s already looking suspiciously familiar… We at first suspected it resembled some kind of Opel people carrier, but later pinpointed its brother from another mother in the form of the stylish people carrier from Kia: the Carens.

Launched onto the market in this current form in last year, the Korean MPV features modern, crisp lines that are neither class-average nor class leading.

The BMW wades into battle with less attractive headlights than its concept preview originally announced, both in terms of shape/outline and internal cluster design, with the disadvantage of appearing narrower and less planted than it too. Of the two, the Kia just seems better tied-in with all its design elements, with a strong crease on the side that touches both the head- and rear lights as well.

One design element that’s virtually identical between the two (and common in the industry on vehicles with tall doors and flat sides) is the indentation in the lower part of the doors that is meant to give some kind of depth to an area that would have otherwise not drawn any attention whatsoever. The lateral crease also ends with the rear light, in both cases blending seamlessly into it (a nice touch on either).

The main differences between the designs of the two vehicles are the different bonnets/hoods (the BMW’s is more sculpted), lower-placed door handles in the Kia, the longer side crease of the Korean and the fact that the BMW is slightly more wedge-shaped, with a different C-pillar. Their interiors are very different, though.

Accusing BMW’s designers of taking peeking over the fence a little bit too far would seem like a natural reaction on first impulse, but it’s actually not that simple. You see, Kia has been working a lot harder than most other automakers to build its image in the last few years, and while you can’t call their new cars original, you take them far more seriously than you did even less than a decade ago.

Could this be revenge from Munich for the 7-Series from Seoul, the K900 luxo-barge? Probably not, but we’d still like to know your take on it (ed.Note: maybe with the exception of “Carscoop FTW“, as we already know what you think…) in the comments section below, after the side-by-side gallery.

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