New Kia ProCeed Merges Wagon Practicality With Great Looks (New Photos)

Kia has revealed the new ProCeed, which has transformed from a three-door hatchback into a five-door shooting brake as previewed by last year’s concept.

The new Kia ProCeed is the third and most dynamic member of the expanded Ceed family, which also includes the hatchback and Sportswagon bodystyles.

Measuring 4,605 mm long and 1,422 mm tall, the new ProCeed is 5 mm longer and 43 mm lower than the Ceed Sportswagon, with ground clearance also reduced by 5 mm. Boot capacity of the ProCeed is marginally smaller when compared with the Sportswagon (594lt over 625lt).

The new ProCeed will act as the halo model of the Ceed family and will be available as a ‘GT-Line’ or the range-topping GT model.

Kia’s new shooting brake model has been penned at the company’s European design center in Frankfurt under the guidance of Gregory Guillaume and Peter Schreyer.

“Europe’s shrinking market for three-door hatchbacks brought the future of the pro_cee’d in question,” said Gregory Guillame, Kia’s European Head of Design. “But it was equally inconceivable that we would simply kill off the pro_cee’d. We needed to reinvent the pro_cee’d to ensure that all that vitality and vibrancy wasn’t simply lost. It had to be a model that not only sat at the top of the current Ceed family, but one that was also immediately identifiable as the most emotionally engaging car in the range.”

Customers will be offered a choice of three engines for the GT-Line model, including the 1.0-liter T-GDI with 118hp (120PS), the 1.4-liter T-GDI with 138hp (140PS) and the all-new 1.6-liter CRDi Smartstream diesel with 134hp (136PS). All three engines can be paired to a six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

As for the range-topping Kia ProCeed GT, it uses the same 1.6-liter T-GDI unit with the new Ceed GT, producing 201hp (204PS) and 195lb-ft (265Nm) of peak torque paired to a new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with steering wheel paddles made out of metal alloy. Performance and fuel economy figures will be released at a later date.

The new Kia Proceed comes with the same independent suspension setup of the regular Ceed but features model-specific suspension geometry in order to offer better agility and quicker responses. Other differences include stiffer front and rear springs and softer front and rear anti-roll bars, making the ProCeed tackle corners with increased confidence and offer the ‘Gran Turismo’ character you expect from a vehicle of this type.

Production of the new Kia ProCeed will start this November at the company’s factory in Slovakia, with sales to start across Europe during the first quarter of 2019. Unfortunately Kia says that the new ProCeed will be sold exclusively there, meaning that the chances of it coming into the US are practically zero.

*Article has been updated with new images