Kia New Three-Door Picanto in Britain

For the first time since the Kia Picanto was introduced into the market in 2004, the Korean city car is available with a three-door body style.

Revealed alongside the second generation of the five-door model at the Geneva Salon this past March, the three-door Picanto will go on sale in the UK from the 1st of September with prices starting from £7,795 for the base 1.0 ‘1’ and rising to £12,295 for the 1.25 'Halo' with an automatic transmission.

Kia says it created the 3d Picanto because city car sales (referred to as the A-segment in Europe) are rising worldwide and are expected to grow to 2.4 million in 2014 and 3.3 million in 2015, and around a million of these will be three-door cars. In the UK, the split between body styles in the A-segment is 55:45 in favor of five-door models.

While identical in size with its 5d counterpart, the 3d Picanto features new front doors, bumpers, rear panels and glass aft of the A-pillar, along with a larger front grille that's available with silver or red trim surrounds, visible exhaust tail pipes and different alloy wheel designs.

There are four trim levels available for the 3d model, two of which, the "1" and "1 Air" are carried over from the 5d Picanto, and the Halo and Equinox that are new.

Standard features on all models include a trip computer, height-adjustable seat, a tilt-adjustable steering column, a RDS radio and CD player with MP3 compatibility, electronic stability control (ESC), anti-lock brakes (ABS), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), and emergency brake assist system (BAS).

The Picanto 1 Air gets air conditioning, while the Halo and Equinox both benefit from USB and AUX ports, an iPod cable and steering wheel-mounted audio controls, alloy wheels, Bluetooth connectivity with voice recognition, automatic lights, LED front daytime running lights and LED rear lights.

In addition, the Halo version gets unique 14-inch alloys, heated front seats, heated steering wheel, reverse parking sensors, alloy pedals and a Supervision Cluster.

The Equinox spec features a premium red ‘Chilli’ upholstery with a contrasting high gloss black fascia and gearknob, 15-inch alloys, automatic air conditioning and a smart key with a start/stop button.

The Picanto 3d is offered with two gasoline engine choices, a 1.0-liter three-cylinder unit developing 68bhp and 95Nm of torque, and a 1.25-liter four-cylinder with 84bhp and 121Nm of torque, that delivers 60.1mpg UK with a manual gearbox, 53.3mpg UK with a 4-speed auto, and 65.7mpg UK when combined with a Start and Stop system.