Kia K4 revealed for New York as the Forte's successor
The new Kia K4 has been revealed just before the New York Auto Show, and it will officially replace the Forte as the brand’s small sedan. It adopts much bolder design than the car it replaces and clearly takes inspiration from recent Kia EVs and concepts.
The design picks up the sharp lines and broad fenders of vehicles like the EV9. The fenders in particular have bulging sections that really emphasize the wheels and width of the car, while the hidden rear door handles help give a pseudo-coupe look. At the front, the headlights adopt the vertical elements made popular on Telluride while maintaining some swept-back aspects. The slim grille transitions into what looks like a very low and long hood. The K4’s profile looks much more like a fastback hatch, though Kia hasn’t said whether it will have a hatch or a trunk. And on the topic of the rear, it has nearly full-width taillights with vertical aspects that mirror the front.
The K4’s interior feels very Kia. It has that beveled, chiseled look of the EV9 yet again, even down to the graphics on the dual-screen monolith atop the dash. The air vents are integrated into the wide and low dash that is so de rigueur. We dig the soft green color of the interior, and it highlights an interesting bit of asymmetry with the section of the driver’s door panel meeting the dash being black, whereas the same part of the passenger door is in color.
The main part of the puzzle we’re missing on the K4 are all the technical details. We can tell that some kind of internal combustion is being offered on the K4, since there’s clearly a tachometer readout on the instrument panel. But we don’t know if it will use the same naturally aspirated and turbo engines as the outgoing one, or if it will get some new options such as a hybrid. We’re also curious about size and chassis information, particularly the former as this looks a bit bigger than the Forte it replaces. We’re hoping we’ll get more of that info when it makes its official debut at the New York Auto Show next week
