Kia previews pro_cee´d small car concept

Kia Motors has revealed the first images of its latest concept car that is scheduled to debut at the Paris Motor Show later this month. The strikingly styled showcar, named pro_cee'd, is a teaser of the forthcoming three-door 'sporty hatch' version of the all-new Kia cee´d C-segment car. The pro_cee’d will become the third model in the cee´d line-up from December 2007. The five-door family hatchback cee’d has its world premiere at Paris and will be manufactured at Kia's first-ever European assembly plant in Slovakia from November 2006.

The wheels look fantastic and sport 265/30 R19 low profile tyres, for sportier handling and performance looks, although this feature probably won’t make it out of the concept car and into the production version.

The pro_cee'd interior is designed to accommodate four people and is trimmed to give a performance feeling. The four seats feature bucket-style backrests with aluminium alloy mountings for the head restraints.

One of the coolest parts of the concept is the often ignored interior materials, with the lower panels being trimmed in special 'Pilot Brown' distressed leather that has a brown/black patina and the quality of an old flying jacket. The floor is trimmed in 'Carbon Leather', a special material in which a pattern of carbon-fibre has been embossed into the surface of the leather.

"Like the five-door cee'd, which has its world premiere at Paris, the new cee´d ´sporty hatch´ will be a truly European product, designed in Europe and made in Europe. But whereas the five-door is a great handling family car, this version of cee´d will be targeting younger drivers in search of a more overtly sporty look to go with the sporty drive," observed Guillaume.

With a name like ‘pro_cee’d’, it seems the folks at Kia have seriously dropped the ball somewhere between the marketing yuppies and the old Korean blokes that sit at 'the top' and are supposed to veto stuff like this. Just imagine the conversation you’d have to have with a police officer if he pulled you over: “Err, that's ‘proceed’, with an underscore and an apostrophe.”

You’d probably get ticketed double.

More high-res images after the jump.