Kia Picanto (2011): the first design sketches

Kia will replace the Picanto city car in spring 2011 - and these are the first pictures of the new 2011 small car.

The production Picanto will be shown at the Geneva motor show in March, with UK sales slated to begin soon after 'from late spring 2011.'

It's yet another design from Kia's European styling studio in Germany led by ex-Audi man Peter Schreyer.

This time a three-door will be sold alongside the five-door Picanto. The more practical one arrives first, in late spring 2011 while the three-door model arrives in time for summer.

The new Picanto will again be built in Korea, not Hyundai-Kia's Euro factory in eastern Europe.

Whereas today you can pick between similar 1.0 and 1.1 engines, the new city car will offer a 1.0 or 1.2 petrol. The cleanest should zip under the magical 100g/km CO2 level - for free road tax in the UK.

The blurb claims the new Picanto exudes 'self confidence, solidity and maturity', but we'd caution that it'll have to live up to the hope of these first design sketches. All too often we've seen promising doodles dilute into routine humdrum.

Still, these first pictures of the new 2011 Picanto show a pert city car with sharp creases and a Ford-alike gaping lower grille.

By Tim Pollard