First look: Kia lifts veil on Euro ED hatch

KIA has released official photos of its new Corolla-size hatch – the ED – at the British International Motor Show in London.

Based on the Cee’d concept car, the hatch has been designed with Europe in mind and will make its world debut at the Paris motor show in September.

Kia has designed and engineered the ED to challenge the established class leaders in Europe, namely the VW Golf, Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus. The ED shares its underbody architecture with Hyundai and is tipped to replace the Cerato in Europe.

At 4200mm long the ED has a 2650mm wheelbase, and Kia claims it offers class-leading interior space, plus highly competitive levels of equipment and state-of-the-art active and passive safety features.

In Europe, four engines will be available including 1.4-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre CVVT petrol engines and an all-new 1.6-litre VGT diesel engine.

The senior vice president of Kia Motors Europe, Jean-Charles Lievens, said the new C-segment model was codenamed ED "because it is a European Design created with European consumers in mind".

Visually the hatch has strong design with kicked-up rear window, pronounced wedge with a high waistline and headlights that feed into the bonnet line.

Its broad stance and jewel-like detailing also points to future elements of evolving design language.

The ED will be built at Kia’s first-ever European manufacturing facility at Zilina in Slovakia.

The five-door hatch is expected to be joined by a range of station wagons and sporty high-performance three-door hatchback models from September and December 2007, respectively.

A cabrio and sedan are also planned.