The Refreshingly Normal Kia K4 Is Coming To The UK

The last 10 years have been deeply confusing for people used to the old norms of the car market. All manner of different powertrains, the crossoverisation of everything, increasingly confusing lineups – it’s all a far cry from the days when most car companies’ ranges went city car, supermini, family hatch, saloon, then maybe the odd SUV or sports car.

That’s why it’s something of a delight to announce that the Kia K4 is coming to Europe. It’s a new five-door petrol-powered family hatchback – and that’s it. No pretending to be a rufty-tufty SUV, no electric motors touting massive and mostly unusable power figures. Heck, you can even get it with a manual.

The K4 launched in North America last year, where it comes as both a hatch and a fastback-style saloon. Europe’s only getting the roughly Golf-sized hatchback for now, though, where it’ll succeed the Ceed (although Kia says it's not a direct replacement, as there'll be no estate version of the K4).

When it launches in the final quarter of this year, the K4 will come with a range of petrol and hybrid powertrains, kicking off with a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder making 113bhp and hooked to a six-speed manual. This’ll be available either as a pure petrol car or with mild hybrid assistance. Next up comes a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot, in 148bhp and 178bhp flavours, both with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto as standard. Next year, a full hybrid version will join the lineup, too.

It’s a funky-looking thing, isn’t it? It gets touches like Kia’s new ‘Star Map’ lighting signatures, inspired by the ones found on its flagship EVs, and these pictures show it in Sparkling Yellow, a colour that looks excellent but that we suspect most people will shy away from. Something something resale value. Opt for the range-topping GT-Line and you get some mild bodykittage, wheels of up to 18 inches and, on the inside, a unique steering wheel and paddle shifters for the auto.

Speaking of the inside – look, buttons! Granted, lots of them are just shortcuts to access parts of the infotainment, which is integrated into Kia’s signature double 12.3-inch screen layout with a smaller 5.3-inch climate display sandwiched between them. But there are also proper rocker buttons for said climate controls, as well as a scroll wheel for the volume. What is this, 2007?

Well, obviously not, because the K4 also gets the full suite of ADAS systems that most rulemakers require and some that they don’t, including adaptive cruise control with lane guidance and lane-change assist, plus the very 2025 feature of an AI voice assistant.

Largely, though, this is about as old-school as a car is going to get in 2025, while still seemingly retaining lots of the excellent design and tech that have helped spearhead Kia’s total image turnaround in the last decade or so. Expect to find out more on pricing and UK spec ahead of the K4 arriving in showrooms towards the end of the year.