Should Kia PH bring in this facelifted 2024 Picanto?

The facelifted 2024 Kia Picanto was leaked on the internet, and it shows most of the car’s exterior details and some bits of its interior. For those who love the Picanto, this is exciting news since the hatch hasn’t received a refresh for quite a while now, especially in the local market. 

The leaked 2024 Kia Picanto [Photo: Autospy]

The said leak comes from a Korean site by the name of Autospy. Based on the shared photos, the Kia-made ride now gets a more mature-looking face fitted with aggressively styled T-shaped headlamps, a large lower vent, and a squared-off front bumper.

Its sides and its roofline still have a smooth and curved contour, but the rear was enhanced thanks to a LED light strip spanning the width of the car. Down below, it likewise gets a rear diffuser to bump up its sportiness. 

Moving on to its interior, the leaked images show a new steering wheel with a flat bottom. Meanwhile, the shape of the gauge cluster housing is now rectangular, and it now contains a fully-digital instrument cluster. Also present is a larger central touchscreen with thinner bezels. 

Note the fancy new LED taillights

Most of the other interior bits, however, look identical to the locally available version. Specifically, the dial-type air-conditioning controls are still located below the central air vents, and the car even comes with the same oval-shaped side air vents. The polished silver decoration on the dashboard likewise makes a return. 

That said, these photos confirm that the Picanto is a refresh and not a full model change. As a reference, the last time the Korean brand rolled out a full model update, was all the way back in 2020. 

Regardless, this update might just breathe new life into Kia’s smallest offering in the Philippine market, considering that the car brand has not released an updated Picanto. Our insider source among Kia dealerships shared that the stocks of the current PH-spec Picanto have now been depleted. So when is the new model arriving in the Philippine market? Well, according to our sources, Kia Philippines has yet to send them an advisory in regard to that. 

The interior also gets loads of changes, but some design elements from the old car were kept

Going back to the leak, no other info was shared by the source. We are still in the dark about engine options, nor was there anything shared about new features. 

So for that, sticks with us here on Philkotse for more updates.