The all-new Kia Optima will be unveiled in European specification at the Frankfurt International Motor Show on 15 September 2015.
The fourth-generation Optima, which will go on sale across Europe in Q4 2015, boasts a modern, new exterior, a bold interior design with more space for all occupants, an array of new technologies and a wide choice of efficient powertrains. The new model will offer greater refinement and improved ride and handling over the outgoing model, while retaining the sporty image that has helped Optima become one of Kia’s best-selling models worldwide.
The Kia Optima plays an important role in the Kia Motors Europe product line-up, introducing the brand to an increasing number of new customers. Since the third-generation model launched in 2011, with its distinctive look, high quality interior and high-tech image, the Optima has offered buyers something fresh and different in the D-segment.
Michael Cole, Chief Operating Officer, Kia Motors Europe, commented: “When the current Kia Optima arrived on the global stage in 2010, it acted as the catalyst for the five-year, design-led transformation of Kia’s product range. Its combination of technology, design and refinement added greater depth to our model line-up and fundamentally changed the way that people saw the Kia brand.”
Cole added: “The all-new Optima retains the unique personality of its predecessor, and improvements to every aspect of the car will make it an even more compelling proposition to buyers – private and fleet – across Europe. It truly offers motorists something fresh, in a segment that’s typically among the most conservative.”
Evolutionary design keeps all-new Optima at the cutting edge
The exterior styling of the all-new Kia Optima was a question of balance for Kia’s global design teams. The all-new Optima maintains the athletic identity that made it so popular, while making a confident leap forward to attract car buyers looking for something different.
Conceived under the watchful eye of Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer of Kia Motors, the all-new Optima offers more road presence than ever, with its contemporary surface detailing, sharp body lines and creases, and a more elongated sedan silhouette.
The all-new Optima’s evolutionary new look was designed to be functional and sporty, with exterior dimensions that are marginally longer, taller and wider. The wheelbase has been extended by 10 mm to 2,805 mm, with the full vehicle length growing 10 mm to 4,855 mm. Meanwhile the new model is 25 mm wider, at 1,860 mm, and 10 mm taller (1,465 mm). These changes enable a roomier and more comfortable cabin, with more head-, shoulder- and rear-seat leg-room and greater cargo capacity. From a styling perspective, the new dimensions afforded Kia’s designers the chance to introduce a more swept-back, dynamic shape.
Instantly recognisable as a Kia, the all-new Optima integrates the brand’s hallmark ‘tiger-nose’ grille with the longer, wider, wrap-around headlamps, pulled taut over the blistered wheel arches. The bumper swells into bold right angles around the front fog lamps, adding greater volume to the lower part of the ‘face’ and giving the car a more stable, wider look.
In profile, the glass area maintains the raked A-pillar and sweeping C-pillar that define the Optima’s sports-sedan appearance, with the rear quarterlight kicking up smartly as the shoulder line extends towards the raised boot lid. The shoulder line itself is an extension of the parallel followed by the front headlamps, forming a clean, straight light that connects front and rear. The deeply-sculptured body panels of the doors curve fluently into slightly extended side sills, again increasing the visual weight around the skirt of the Optima.
The LED halo-style tail lamps wrap around the corners of the rear of the all-new Optima, and give the car a modern, new light signature. The athletic appearance of the car is boosted by a rising, spoiler-shaped boot lid and an expansive rear bumper which houses a sporty-looking air diffuser and oval exhaust.
This attractive new design makes the fourth-generation model the most aerodynamic Optima to date, with drag reduced from 0.3 to 0.29 Cd. The all-new Optima will be available in Europe in a choice of nine paint colours, and will ride on alloy wheels ranging from 16- to 18-inches in diameter.
The all-new Kia Optima range will be developed further in future, with the addition of a new body style, inspired by the Kia SPORTSPACE concept car shown at the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show.
