What's all this about?
Right, if you've not been keeping wholly abreast of Kia's unusually-named C-segment challenger, some 'things' have happened to it. First of all, both the main 'cee'd' and its 'pro_cee'd' derivative are no longer stylised in the ridiculous manner that requires lower-case letters, apostrophes and underscores in their names. Secondly, the Ceed has morphed into its third-generation as a five-door hatchback - no change there, but the Proceed (Kia would have us intercap the 'C' in this model, but we'll keep it like this, thank you very much) is no longer simply a three-door version of the Ceed; instead, it has become a rakish shooting brake, with five doors and a big boot... kind of like an estate, in fact. This is despite the continuation of the estate model of Ceed, which is called the Sportswagon. Confused? You should be. Because we are.
OK, but why are you telling me this convoluted tale?
Well, the Ceed Mk3 has been on sale for a little while now and the Proceed has already been announced in sporty GT-Line trim, which apes the faster GT models that Kia makes, without offering the most potent of engines available - GT-Line is to Kia what ST-Line is to Ford, R-Line is to Volkswagen and M Sport is to BMW, to name but a few examples. And at the Paris Motor Show, the Korean company was keen to show off - alongside its saintly Kia e-Niro SUV - the full GT models of both the Ceed and the Proceed, as well as the adoption of GT-Line trim for the Ceed family. Sportswagon included.
I think I'm following all this. Can you start with the Ceed GT and Proceed GT models?
They're powered by the same 1.6-litre turbocharged gasoline direct injection (T-GDi) four-cylinder engine that was used in the old Ceed/Proceed GT 'warm' hatchbacks. So don't expect them to have full hot hatch pace, as 204hp and 265Nm are not exactly figures to whoop and holler loudly about. However, both cars look good (the svelte Proceed in particular), with meatier bumpers, extended side skirts and red detailing dotted about the exterior. Either comes with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard but, for the first time on a Ceed/Proceed GT, a seven-speed DCT twin-clutch transmission will be an option. No word on any stats for either of the new GT twins, but expect them to go on sale before the first quarter of 2019 is out, so it won't be too long before we know more about them.
OK, and what about the Ceed GT-Line?
This has most of the looks listed above for the 204hp GT, only with a choice of 1.0-litre three-cylinder or 1.4-litre four-cylinder T-GDi engines, or a 1.6-litre four-cylinder 'Smartstream' CRDi turbodiesel. GT-Line spec also sees the tiger-nose grille surround finished in satin chrome and gloss black, while there's a choice of 17- or 18-inch GT-Line alloys to reside in the arches. The foglamp surrounds feature horizontal metallic 'blades', which is said to pay homage to the superb Stinger flagship... but we've spent a long time looking at pics of the Stinger and we can't see any horizontal blades. Ho-hum. But we digress. Inside, black headlining, metallic sill covers inside the doors and GT-Line sports seats are all fitted, while there's an option to go for the fully sculpted front chairs of the GT variants if you so wish. All of the Ceed GT, Proceed family (GT included) and GT-Line versions of the Ceed and Ceed Sportswagon will go on sale in the first three months of 2019.
Matt Robinson - 2 Oct 2018