2020 Kia Picanto revealed, to be launched in Europe in Q3 2020

Kia Motors has updated one of its popular offerings, the Picanto hatchback, which is scheduled to arrive in Europe in the third quarter of 2020. The company mentions, the highlight of the 2020 Picanto will be its safety and telematic features that are usually seen on much premium vehicles along with new powertrain options that claim lower emissions and design tweaks done to the exterior as well as the interior of the hatchback.

2020 Kia revealed, to be launched in Europe in Q3 2020

The company will be offering the Picanto with two new Smartstream petrol engines, 100PS-making 1.0-litre T-GDi turbo petrol engine, that is also offered in the Hyundai Grand Nios, and a 67PS-making naturally aspirated 1.0-litre engine. Kia mentions that the 1.0-litre T-GDi engine comes with a more efficient high-pressure fuel injection system. While in the naturally aspirated unit, a new dual-port fuel injection has replaced the previous multi-point injection, which offers optimised injection timing, improved exhaust gas recirculation lines and optimised intake valve timing all of which have resulted in better fuel efficiency.

The company will be offering the Picanto with two new Smartstream petrol engines

The 2020 Picanto is also the first model to feature Kia's new automated manual transmission (AMT), which is considered as a cost-effective option compared to an automatic, without compromising on the fuel efficiency of a conventional manual transmission.

2020 Kia Picanto X-Line gets a crossover-inspired design theme

In terms of exterior design, the Picanto now gets a reworked 'tiger nose' grille with a textured chrome surround, flowing into the newly designed headlamps. The bolder grille design has also given the hatchback a wider look. Also depending on the variant, GT-Line or X-Line, it gets visually distinct styling elements around the grille. Additionally, the hatch now features updated LED DRLs and LED rear combination lamp with a compact fog light design. The bumper design has become sportier on GT-Line and X-Line trims with a sharper profile.

2020 Kia Picanto GT-Line gets a more premium design theme, inspired by its more premium siblings

While X-Line aims at giving the Picanto a more rugged design with protective skid plates and black surround on the grille and over the wheel arches, the GT-Line is offered with a larger, wider air intake body-coloured bumper with gloss black highlights and distinct fog lamps, much in line with Kia's premium range of vehicles. The Picanto will be offered with a choice of 10 paint shades and two new aluminium alloy wheel designs on the 16- and 14-inch alloys. The top-spec variant of the Kia Picanto will be offered with 16-inch diamond cut alloys.

The interior trim colours and the highlights too have been updated to give the hatch a more premium appearance.

The interior trim colours and the highlights too have been updated to give the hatch a more premium appearance.  There is the Lime Pack that features a black single-tone interior with lime contrast stitching and white seat bolsters, silver metal painted transmission and air vent surrounds, and silver-and-lime accents in the doors while the Orange Pack features a black single-tone interior with orange stitching and cabin highlights, and black-and-orange door accents. The Red pack variants feature black upholstery with red seat bolsters, as well as gloss black highlights and red-and-black door accents. The Green Pack offers green highlights throughout the cabin and silver-and-green door accents, with denim-effect seat upholstery.

The touchscreen infotainment system comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, along with Kia's UVO system

The updated Picanto features a larger 8-inch 'floating' widescreen audio visual navigation (AVN) system, and a high-resolution 4.2-inch digital display in the driver's instrument cluster. The touchscreen infotainment system comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, along with Kia's UVO system. The UVO lets users remotely send route directions to their car before a journey, check the location of their vehicle, and access vehicle reports and diagnostic notifications.

In terms of safety, the new Kia Picanto will be offered with Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA) with vehicle and pedestrian detection. Additionally, the Picanto is available with Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), Driver Attention Warning (DAW), and Lane Following Assist (LFA).