- New wagon variant not headed to U.S.
- Slated to go on sale in Europe early next year
- Added to the European midsize Ceed range
Kia unveiled a long-awaited 5-door wagon version of its popular Ceed midsize range in Paris. The 2019 Kia ProCeed is slated to go on sale in Europe early next year, however, Kia says it has no plans to export the handsome wagon to the U.S. market.
The sleek new model fits in with the European preference for wagons, while in the U.S., crossover SUVs hold sway. A Kia official said that while it looked at bringing this new model to America, it decided that volume wouldn’t be sufficient to sustain a certification and sales effort.
Also: Check out the latest news from the Paris Motor Show
Designed, engineered and built in Europe
The Kia ProCeed derives its name from the Pro cee’d 3-door coupe and was designed, developed and engineered in Europe. It will be built by Kia at its assembly plant in Slovakia. Like the rest of the Ceed lineup, ProCeed will be available with a choice of either a 1.0- or 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine or a 1.6-liter 4-cylinder turbodiesel.
Inside, the ProCeed makes extensive use of soft-touch materials and features a 7.0-inch floating infotainment touch screen that dominates the center of the dashboard. The screen is canted slightly towards the driver.
Emilio Herrera, CEO of Kia Motors Europe said “The ProCeed takes the Ceed model family in a bold new direction. Where the Ceed Sportswagon majors on practicality, the ProCeed provides couples or young families with the space and versatility of a wagon, combined with an emotive, swept-back design. Where focusing on one of these normally compromises the other, the ProCeed is the first car in the mainstream segment to combine both.”
