Kia Sportage restyling: now it's the turn of the European version

Following its November debut in South Korea, Kia has officially unveiled the restyled Sportage for Europe.

Here's What We Know

It may not be immediately noticeable at first glance, but actually quite a lot has changed in the Sportage's appearance. So, the crossover has received a rectangular grille, and headlights have become completely different. They run along the sides straight down, whereas before they had a more angular shape and converged to the radiator grille (on the photo below).

The lower grille is now rectangular, and the front bumper is defined by straight lines. At the rear, the designers have worked more subtly - there especially stand out the new lights with a modified layout. Kia has shared a few photos of the white version of the Baseline besides the one pictured under the GT-Line header.

The interior looks familiar at first glance, but a lot has actually changed. The panel has undergone a major redesign, ventilation deflectors are located a little lower and on the same line relative to each other. The button island in the centre is also framed a little differently, and the piano lacquer on the centre tunnel is gone. Even more noticeable are the all-new dual-spoke steering wheel and the rectangular screen combination.

There are two 12.3-inch screens as standard in the updated Kia Sportage - one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. There is also a new 10-inch projection display.

The updated European Kia Sportage will hit the market with mild-hybrid and hybrid powertrains:

• Mild-hybrid version: 1.6 T-GDI engine with seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission
• Hybrid version: 1.6 T-GDI engine and six-speed automatic transmission. The total output of the hybrid system is raised to 239 hp.

About the plug-in hybrid version of the Sportage Kia is still silent, but its appearance can also be counted on.

Source: Kia