New-look Kia Cerato hatch breaks cover

The strong-selling Kia Cerato hatchback has come in for a makeover, bringing an updated exterior design, upgraded interior trim levels and more technology for 2021.

Revealed this week in South Korea (where it’s called the K3) in top-spec GT trim and due to arrive in Australia from early June, hot on the heels of the new Kia Niro, the updated Kia Cerato hatch is expected to stick with the current model’s engines and variant line-up.

Like its updated sedan sibling revealed earlier this month, the 2021 Kia Cerato hatch gets a nipped-and-tucked front-end design comprising a new bumper, reworked LED headlights, staggered daytime running lights, a narrower grille and updated Kia badge.

Unlike the sedan, however, the 2021 Cerato five-door’s rear-end remains unchanged apart from the new-look Kia logo.

The interior of the popular hatchback – Kia’s top-selling vehicle in Australia by a significant margin – gets plenty of new equipment to keep rivals like the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai i30 honest.

These include twin 10.25-inch digital screens (a central touch-screen and driver’s instrument cluster) on up-spec variants.

Other tech upgrades for top-shelf Cerato grades will include over-the-air sat-nav map updates and premium capacitive-touch buttons.

Heated, cooled and leather-trimmed seats, a sunroof, wireless phone charging pad, remote engine start and dual-zone climate control will also be offered.

Entry-level variants are tipped to get an 8.0-inch central touch-screen and a 4.2-inch central driver info display wedged between traditional analogue dials.

An electric park brake with auto-hold function will be added too.

The 2021 Kia Cerato hatch will mirror the sedan’s safety upgrades via features like navigation-based adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping and lane-following assist, which combine with highway driving assist to make freeway cruising a hands-off affair in certain scenarios.

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) includes car, cyclist and pedestrian detection, while safe exit and driver attention warning systems have been added.

Four-cylinder petrol engines are expected to carryover from the current model, meaning a 112kW/192Nm 2.0-litre engine for all variants except the flagship GT Turbo, which offers a 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo-petrol powerplants.

When the facelifeted Kia Cerato hatch arrives in Australia in just over a month, it will maintain the current model’s five-grade line-up: S, Si, Sport, Sport+ and GT Turbo.

Prices currently range between $22,190 and $34,190 and, although Kia Australia has not yet announced MY21 pricing, modest increases are expected.

Stay tuned for more details next month.

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