Kia Reveals Its GT Line Rio

The Kia Rio has just gotten slightly hotter with some new sporty design cues and some added grunt as it joins the GT-Line.

Inspired by sporty GT-Line specifications, the Kia Rio GT features a three-pot 1.0-litre turbo petrol motor with direct injection. An engine that is capable of developing up to 118bhp at 6,000rpm in addition to all of 171Nm of torque that kicks in at just 1,500rpm and is available all the way to 4,000rpm. Power is sent to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. Additionally, Kia will also squeeze either a naturally aspirated 1.25-litre or a 1.4-litre petrol MPI motor with the Rio GT-Line offering later. This engine option will be offered with a seven-speed twin-clutch automatic transmission.

All of that will be wrapped in the same shape of the Kia Rio hatchback, however with subtle sporty cues. For starters, the tiger-nose front grille is finished in black with chrome accents, chrome window trims, 17-inch alloy wheels, LED DRLs with bi-projection headlamps with cornering function, and ‘ice-cube’ LED fog lamps as seen on the cee’d GT and the pro_cee’d GT. At the rear, the Rio GT gets twin exhaust tips in addition to a gloss black roof spoiler and sill highlights. However, on the inside, the occupants will sit on black synthetic leather and cloth seats with contrast grey stitching. The driver will be facing a new heated D-cut’ leather steering wheel. Additionally, the interior will feature new metallic trim surrounds the door switches and gear lever.

The Kia Rio GT-Line will make its public debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show to join Kia’s GT-Line product portfolio which currently includes the Sportage, Picanto and Sorento. Kia Motors will debut in the Indian market with a range of products scheduled to be showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo. Kia Motors has invested US$ 1.1 billion to set up a manufacturing facility in India with an initial annual capacity of 3,00,000 units. Kia is officially aiming to begin selling their products in the Indian market with their first product launch in 2019.