The 'new look' Kia cee'd has been thoroughly restyled in order to keep the brand's best-selling model in Europe 'fresh' and maintain its strong appeal to consumers.

Working under the direction of Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, Kia's European design team have made a number of changes to the exterior of the five-door hatchback and wagon models, to give both cars a more distinctive road presence while incorporating the company's evolving design DNA and retaining the original Kia cee'd family styling connection.

Briefed to enhance the original models' 'sporty and strong' appearance, the cee'd team at Kia's Frankfurt-based Design Centre Europe, headed by Chief Designer, Gregory Guillaume, set out to make the new model's 'face' appear more striking and impactful, while refreshing the whole car. Ultimately, the only new metal panels are a new bonnet and new front wings on models where the repeat turn indicators are moved to the door mirrors.

New look Kia cee'd adopts the company's signature grille, also featured (with small variations), on the all-new Sorento SUV and all-new Venga MPV being unveiled at the Frankfurt Show.

On new Kia cee'd, the grille stretches the full width between the front headlights, which combined with the new trapezoidal lower air intake and completely redesigned lower front bumper, makes the car seem wider, lower and more purposeful. Completing the changes at the front end are redesigned, projection-type head lamps and square fog lamps which give a more high-tech and luxurious feel.

The grille's finish varies with different trim/equipment levels as a way of visually differentiating between models. Most models feature an all-chrome edge to the grille, while models with the Sport Pack will have a Piano Black high-gloss edge with a contrasting chrome strip to the grille's inner edge.

Overall length of new Kia cee'd is increased by 25 mm on the hatchback and 20 mm on the wagon. The new front bumper and grille (common to both models), extends the nose by 20 mm, while at the rear the hatchback features an all-new bumper which adds 5 mm to the rear overhang. The hatchback's bumper also features new shape lower reflectors and this body style has new LED-look rear lamp clusters with a subtly revised shape. The profile of the cluster's top and side is unchanged, but the lower edge is raised (compared to the original cee'd) and consequently, the bumper is slightly deeper. On the wagon, the shape of the rear clusters is unchanged, but the lamps incorporate the new LED-look.

The profile of new Kia cee'd appears sleeker, thanks to the extended nose, new, lower mounted door mirrors, a range of new-style 16- and 17-inch alloy wheels.

Sport Pack models of the hatchback are fitted with the Piano Black high-gloss front grille, plus a deeper central front air intake (also in Piano Black), black headlamp bezels and, at the rear on the hatchback, a black 'venturi-style' panel set into the bumper.

As with the original model, the final appearance of European-designed new Kia cee'd was fine-tuned in Kia's world-class full-size aero-acoustic wind tunnel at the Namyang R&D Centre in Korea . The new model's aerodynamic drag figure is Cd 0.33 (bettering the VW Golf and Ford Focus) while its lift coefficient figure (Cl 0.01) is a class-best result that enhances vehicle stability at high speeds.

For new Kia cee'd, five new exterior colours will be offered - four metallics: Phoenix Silver, Sirius Silver, Infra Red and Byte Blue, plus one solid colour, Clyde Blue.

The seven most popular colours from the original cee'd palette will be carried over so that new Kia cee'd can also be ordered in: Cassa White, Machine Silver, Dakar Yellow, Oil Blue, Pewter Beige, Piston Gray and Black Pearl.