2018 Kia Cee’d teased, but hold the drool

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If you thought Kia was going to drop the Stinger on us and declare itself finished with sporting design, now there’s this.

The concept teased here is yet to be named, but one could easily consider it a first look a powerful new mid-sized shooting brake, shouldering up to the Optima Sportswagon – just as the Stinger’s done with the comparatively dull Optima sedan.

Well, you’d be wrong. That is, while the concept itself might be a rear-wheel drive powerhouse wagon-of-a-sort, Kia says it’s actually intended to hint at what the next-generation Cee’d “could” look like.

Looks nothing like a Cee’d, you say? Fair. The current model, while an attractive unit, wears a far more conventional and volume-selling look than this concept – although few concepts are designed to look conventional.

Above: the only Cee’d we ever saw in Australia, the three-door Pro_Cee’d. 

That said, you’d be right – it looks nothing like the current model, and if recent spy photos are any indication, it’s not exactly a perfect representation of the next one, either.

At the end of the day, we can expect the new Cee’d (below) to wear proportions similar to the Hyundai i30 with which it is sure to share a platform, matched to styling drawn from across the latest Kia line-up – with a little next-gen styling thrown in. The current Cee’d didn’t exactly look like a Cerato, after all.

But, then, perhaps Kia will finally nix the idea that Europe deserves a more premium small hatch than the rest of us. Bin the Cerato, give us all the Cee’d… that could work.

“The concept presents a new body type for Kia,” Kia says in its media release.

“The extended hot hatch retains the athleticism of the current pro_cee’d model, while combining its striking visual presence with a dash of real-world versatility.

Reworked and reimagined for a new generation of driver, it puts forward a bold vision for a potential member of the next-generation cee’d family.”

Fair to say that if Kia could stay loyal to this wagonette design, it… err… would likely have had a pretty convincing win on its hands. As it stands, we’ll have to wait and see what lies beneath the camouflage. Probably won’t be ugly.

Watch for the new show car to debut in Frankfurt on September 12.

MORE: Stinger news and reviews
MORE: 2018 Kia Cee’d spied
MORE: Kia Proceed news and reviews
MORE: Everything Kia

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