Being Gordon Brown's spin doctor. That's a difficult job. Making the next Kia Magentis more exciting than the
last one. That's not.
The all-new Magentis will be unveiled at the
New York motor show on 2nd April, with Kia promising a 'completely transformed' car that 'embodies a bold, athletic and sporty visual energy'. It's lower, longer and wider than the current model, with a longer wheelbase and more useable space.
It's going global too, so the same version will be sold in the US, Asia and Europe, except in the former two it's called the Optima. Spring 2011 is when we'll get it, which is too far away for Kia to start talking about pricing.
The drawing you see here is quite clearly a Kool Art style piece of pencil hyperbole, but imagine a deeper glasshouse and smaller wheels and you're there. Power should come from 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines, though the latter, shared with the forthcoming
Sportage SUV, will vastly outsell the former.
Mark Nichol - 22 Feb 2010