By IOL Motoring Staff
Seoul, South Korea - These are the first real photographs (as opposed to fanciful designer 'renderings') of the fourth-generation Kia Sportage, ahead of its world premiere on 15 September at the Frankfurt motor show.
It's really a 'world car', says Kia, put together by Kia's design studio in Frankfurt, Germany, with help from the company's design centres in Namyang, South Korea and Irvine, California.
The designers say they've borrowed from the smooth planes and crisp edges found on modern fighter jets to create a whole new 'face' where the headlight clusters are no longer integrated with the grille.
Instead they sweep back along the edges of the sharply detailed bonnet, leaving space for a much lower, wider 'tiger-nose', bringing the front of the car visually closer to the ground without resorting to a 'boy racer' front splitter.
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The wheel arches also stand out more sharply from side of the body, under the same tapered roofline as the previous model, but on a longer wheelbase, going against current trends with more front and less rear overhang.
The rear light clusters have been split up, with the tail and brake combination lights joined by a strip across the tailgate, while the rear indicators and reversing lights are separately mounted lower down to work the same visual trickery as the front treatment.
Kia has yet to release any details of engine ranges, but the buzz around the cybergarage is that it'll be much the same as the recently announced Hyundai Tucson, with which it shares a platform, as the ix35 it replaces did with the previous Sportage.
If so, expect to be offered a choice of 1.6-litre petrol fours - with and without turbocharging - rated at 99kW and 129kW respectively, as well as an 85kW, 1.7-litre turbodiesel.