Geneva show: Kia Australia locks in Pro_cee’d GT

KIA will release the Pro_cee’d GT coupe as its performance halo model in Australia late this year or early in 2014.

Confirmation comes hot on the heels of the whole range of three-door Pro_cee’d models being unveiled at this week’s Geneva motor show.

The potent Volkswagen Golf-sized GT three-door range flagship will be the company’s first venture into hot-hatch territory in this country.

However, for now, no Cee’d GT five-door models are earmarked for importation.

Australia is so far the only market outside of Europe to receive the Pro_cee’d GT, and is just the second in the world after Russia to sell both a Cee’d variant and its Cerato cousin.

“It is incredibly exciting news for us,” Kia Motors Australia chief operating officer Tony Barlow said.

“This is a whole new level of performance for Kia Australia and the fact that it is wrapped in a sensational package of style and safety is icing on the cake.”

Using a variation of the 1.6-litre direct gasoline injection GDI four-cylinder petrol engine found in the Hyundai Veloster SR Turbo, the Pro_cee’d GT delivers 150kW of power and 265Nm of torque, for a 7.7 second 0-100km/h sprint-time on the way to a 230km/h top speed.

Other performance details include a 60-100km/h acceleration time of 5.4 seconds and an 80-120km/h time in fifth gear in 7.3 seconds, with the same speed time in sixth gear taking 8.8 seconds.

The aforementioned power and torque figures are 51 and 61 per cent higher than the Pro_cee’d powered by the normally aspirated version of the 1.6-litre GDI engine.

Built alongside the Cee’d five-door hatch and wagon at Kia’s Zilina facility in Slovakia, the Pro_cee’d was designed and engineered in Europe under the eye of Kia Motors president and chief design officer, Peter Schreyer, expressly for that market.

It shares much of its underpinnings with the Hyundai i30 released last year, as well as the upcoming third-generation Cerato to be launched in Australia during the second quarter of this year.

Both Cee’d hatches boast the same overall length (4310mm), width (1780mm), and wheelbase (2650mm), but the Pro_cee’d’s roofline is lower by 40mm, and the B-pillar has been shifted back by 220mm.

Furthermore, the panels behind the pillar, as well as the side glass, C-pillar, tailgate, tail-lights and rear bumper, are all specific to the Pro_cee’d.

GT models include distinct front grille and headlight treatments, deeper bumpers, LED daytime running lights (DRLs), different fog light surrounds, dual exhaust pipes, larger 18-inch alloys, red brake callipers and unique paint applications.

It is unlikely that any other Cee’d or Pro_cee’d variants will join the three-door GT in Australia in the foreseeable future, as Kia will continue with the Cerato hatch and sedan as its small car mainstay.

New to the Pro_cee’d range, the GT has the job of lifting the three-door hatch’s numbers up. The previous-generation version accounted for just 12 per cent of total Cee’d volume, amounting to 55,000 units in the five years since its 2007 launch in Europe.

Meanwhile, to help hype the Pro_cee’d GT’s European launch at the Geneva show this week, Kia has built the first 500 off the production line wearing Tri-coat white paintwork, red trim highlights below the front air-intake, gloss black for the 18-inch alloy wheels and door mirrors, unique LED DRLs, stainless steel scuff plates with red illumination, red footwell lighting, and red stitching on velour floor mats.

Known as the Pro_cee’d GT 1st Edition, prices will be announced at a later date, but none are slated for Australia.