No plans for Cerato diesel, yet

Kia will not introduce a diesel option with its revised MY11 Cerato range, despite the front half of the car's platform being shared with Hyundai cousin -- and diesel recipient -- the i30.

Speaking at the local launch of the all-new Cerato five-door hatch today (pictured at AIMS), Kia's senior product planner Nick Reid told the Carsales Network that the fitting of a diesel engine to Cerato was a viability issue.

"Given the proportionally small number of diesel models that would sell in Australia, engineering viability meant the return on investment isn't worth Korea's effort," said Reid. "This doesn't mean it can't be done, or that we wouldn't like to offer a diesel option as we have elsewhere in the range... but it may have to wait until the next generation Cerato is closer to production."

The obvious choice to power Cerato is the 1.6-litre CDRi turbodiesel four-cylinder found under the bonnet of Hyundai's i30. That engine develops 85kW/255Nm and consumes just 4.4-litres of fuel per 100km. CO2 emissions are just 125g/km.

A similar version is also found powering Cerato's sibling, the Kia Soul. The variant found beneath its bonnet developing 94kW/260Nm with a combined fuel consumption figure of 4.6L/100km. Its CO2 emissions are 137g/km.

By contrast, the petrol-only offering in Cerato, Kia's Theta II 2.0-litre DOHC four-cylinder, produces 115kW/194Nm and consumes 7.5L/100km when married to a new six-speed manual gearbox (7.7L/100km for the new six-speed automatic). CO2 emissions are 179g/km and 183/km respectively.

Further diesel offerings could also be sourced in Europe or the UK, most likely from the cee'd, though engineering costs may be prohibitive given cee'd's older-generation platform (which precedes i30 and Cerato respectively).

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