New 2024 Kia Picanto: Prices, specs and release date

• New Kia Picanto refreshed outside and in for 2024
• Bold new styling features updated Kia logo
• High-tech feen inside with new infotainment touchscreen and digital driver display
• Arrives in 2024 with prices from around £14,000

The new Kia Picanto aims to invigorate the city car sector with a far-reaching refresh that includes distinctive styling and advanced interior tech.

The new Kia Picanto continues to be the firm’s smallest, most affordable new car, but is more advanced than ever – and still offers Kia’s famous seven-year warranty.

The new Kia Picanto is freshly available in a distinctive GT-Line flagship variant. This has even bolder exterior styling and even more interior technology. Kia says this will draw younger and first-time car owners to the city-sized car, which still measures under 3.6 metres long, meaning it remains easy to park.

The new Kia Picanto five-door continues to develop even as other city car rivals withdraw from the sector. Competitors today include the Toyota Aygo X, Volkswagen Up, Suzuki Ignis, Fiat Panda, Hyundai i10, Fiat 500 and premium-priced MINI Hatch.

New 2024 Kia Picanto prices and release date

The new Kia Picanto will go on sale later in 2023, in base and GT-Line trims. Ordering will open for early adopters, with first deliveries of the new Kia Picanto line-up commencing in early 2024.

New Kia Picanto prices and specs have yet to be confirmed. The range is likely to start from under £15,000, with entry-level models priced from around £14,000 – around £500 more than the current Kia Picanto.

New 2024 Kia Picanto styling, interior and technology

The new Kia Picanto has a very modern and distinctive appearance. The new headlights are very eye-catching, boldly stretching vertically and horizontally. For maximum impact, pick the optional LED headlights with sharp daytime running lights.

The new Kia Picanto has an expressive new front bumper, with dynamic-looking air intakes featuring interesting new grille patterns. It also has an updated ‘tiger nose’ front grille and the latest Kia logo.

At the rear, the new Kia Picanto now has a full-width light bar connecting the vertical tail lamps. These have a more 3D sculpture and give a more distinctive look at night. The rear bumper is new, with complementary vertical reflectors and reversing lamps, and the Picanto model logo has been redesigned.

The most distinctive-looking new Kia Picanto is the GT-Line version. This has an even more dynamic front end, with sporty elements and an expanded tiger nose grille. It also has a rear diffuser, and comes with 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels as standard.

The new Kia Picanto comes with 14-inch steel wheels as standard. 14-inch alloy wheels are also available, with higher-grade versions having 15-inch alloys, and 16-inch wheels are optionally available.

The new Kia Picanto offers a choice of nine different paint colours. Four of them are new – Signal Red, Smoke Blue, Sporty Blue and Adventurous Green.

Inside, the new Kia Picanto’s centrepiece is an 8.0-inch ‘floating’ centre touchscreen, which is standard across the range. All models also feature a 4.2-inch digital driver’s display, instead of more traditional analogue instruments.

The centre touchscreen has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, and can pair to two Bluetooth mobile devices at the same time – one for hands-free phone and media use, and the other solely for media.

The new Kia Picanto infotainment system boasts Kia Connect, which incudes onboard services such as live traffic information, weather forecasts, on- and off-street parking plus local points of interest. Via the Kia Connect App, users can remotely send sat nav directions to their car.

The new Kia Picanto’s Kia Connect App also has ‘last mile navigation’. It directs users to destinations after they have parked their car and continue their journey on foot. The new Kia Picanto also comes with over-the-air functionality, which delivers updates wirelessly, so the system is always thoroughly up-to-date.

The new Kia Picanto has an enhanced choice of trims inside. Optional colour packs include Adventurous Green and Rich Brown choices. These have customised artificial leather seats and door armrests, plus coloured surrounds for the air vents and gearlever. The standard new Kia Picanto has black cloth seats.

The new Kia Picanto has over a metre of head room in the front, and 960mm of head room in the rear, while leg room and shoulder room remain surprisingly generous. It has a 255-litre boot with the rear seats up, which expands to 1,010 litres with them folded.

New 2024 Kia Picanto engines, performance and fuel economy

The new Kia Picanto offers a choice of two petrol engines, either a three-cylinder 1.0-litre or a four-cylinder 1.2-litre. Kia says the 1.0-litre is for those who want efficiency, as it is expected to average around 59mpg, with CO2 emissions from around 110g/km. The 1.2-litre is better for higher-speed use, and is still expected to average around 52mpg. All new Kia Picanto have a 35-litre fuel tank.

Performance figures have not yet been revealed, but the 1.0-litre is expected to produce 66ps for 0-62mph performance in around 14.0 seconds. The 1.2-litre is expected to produce 84ps for 0-62mph in around 12.5 seconds.

The new Kia Picanto comes as standard with a five-speed manual gearbox. For those who prefer the convenience of a two-pedal automatic, an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) will be available as a cost-option. This is as convenient as a regular auto but as fuel-efficient as a manual, although performance does suffer: expect 0-62mph acceleration to take around two seconds longer.

The previous 99ps 1.0-litre turbo version has not been confirmed for the new Kia Picanto range. That model did 0-62mph in 9.9 seconds, but was only available in range-topping guise.  

The new Kia Picanto has more responsive steering than most of its rivals, with just 2.8 turns lock-to-lock. This makes it nimbler and easy to drive at low speeds – Kia says it responds more immediately to driver inputs.

The new Kia Picanto has a relatively long wheelbase of 2400mm, which helps give stable handling at higher speeds, and a smoother ride quality. Locating the front wheels near to the front end of the new Kia Picanto means weight ahead of them is minimised, further aiding agility and stability.

The new Kia Picanto comes as standard with electronic stability control. This also includes advanced torque vectoring by braking, which helps reduce understeer during hard cornering, and again aids handling and stability on twisting roads.