2019 Kia Picanto GT arrives

The Kia Picanto GT micro car has arrived in Australia, bringing a sporty new entrant the market segment, priced from $17,990 drive-away.

Paired exclusively with a five-speed manual transmission, the new model is pitched squarely at budget-conscious enthusiasts, and joins GT versions of the Cerato, Optima and Stinger GT models.

The Kia Picanto has bucked the micro car trend by not dying a slow death, as was the case with the Holden Barina Spark, Suzuki Celerio and Volkswagen up!.

Taking pride of place as the new compact hero model, the Kia Picanto GT ditches the standard 1.25-litre four-cylinder naturally-aspirated engine (62kW/122Nm) for a more potent 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol mill (74kW/172Nm).

Although it may sound like a measly little three-pot engine, consider the car weighs just under 1000kg – less than half the weight of some SUVs – which means it should deliver a modicum of performance.

Similar in appearance to the GT-Line and X-Line model grades released in 2018, the Picanto GT has a sporty body kit, twin exhaust outlets and a bit more interior attitude with red-on-black seats and door trims.

It also gets an unique chassis tune designed to deliver a more engaging drive.

New-look 16-inch wheels shod with 195/45 R16 tyres are designed to improve grip, as is recalibrated suspension. Kia Australia's chassis team has tuned the suspension to Aussie tastes, introducing 'more aggressive' damping rates on the shock absorbers and stiffer spring rates.

Improved body control was the objective and Kia has also tweaked the steering to provide 'quicker response'.

The Kia Picanto GT is fitted as standard with a small touchscreen system that enables Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a reversing camera. Bluetooth phone and audio streaming with steering wheel audio controls are also part of the package.

Despite featuring six airbags and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) the Picanto still has a four-star ANCAP safety rating.

Four colours are offered: Clear White and metallic choices of Aurora Black, Titanium Silver and Signal Red. Contrasting body accents denote the car's performance intent, as does a GT badge on its rump.

"We were warned that trying to launch a micro car into Australia was a fruitless exercise and doomed to failure. The segment was shrinking fast with only a handful of cars being sold," explained Kia Australia boss Damien Meredith.

"Three years on and we are very happy with the way the Picanto has found a comfortable niche at the entry-level of the market," he said.

In 2018 the Kia Picanto found 5394 buyers, amounting to 69% market share of the micro car segment - or more than 2 out of every 3 compact cars sold. It was up by 62 per cent on the 2017 total.

The next closest competitor in terms of national sales in 2018 was the Mitsubishi Mirage, with 1032 units.

(Does not include on-road costs)