What's the news?
Kia will unveil a new GT Line specification for the cee'd at the Geneva Show, which is only mildly interesting news... until you discover that the car comes with two new bits of technology for the Korean company in the form of a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT).
Exterior
Designed to look as sporty as the cee'd and pro_cee'd GT models, the GT Line can be specified on all three body types of the Kia - the three-door pro_cee'd, the five-door cee'd and the cee'd Sportswagon. It gets the quad-cube LED daytime running lights and deeper bumper at the front, while at the rear is the wider GT bumper and twin exhausts. On the Sportswagon, those exhausts are centre-exit and there's a rear diffuser too. All GT Line models receive side skirts, rear LED lights and a specific design of 17-inch alloy wheel.
Interior
Again, taking its cues from the full-fat GT models, the GT Line benefits from new grey, white and black upholstery with grey stitching, GT Line logos scattered about the place and the same piano black and leather steering wheel and aluminium alloy pedals as seen on the GT. There's an aluminium start/stop button on the dash, some chrome trim around the air vents and window switches and a few other sundry updates such as illumination for the USB and aux-in ports.
Mechanicals
Right, onto the good stuff. Kia is introducing the all-new 1.0-litre T-GDI three-cylinder turbocharged petrol in the cee'd GT Line. This little number makes healthy figures of 120hp and 172Nm and Kia says it will return lower CO2 emissions than the 1.6-litre GDI petrol found elsewhere in the cee'd range. It is, as any credible eco engine must be nowadays, also equipped with 'Idle Stop & Go' to save fuel when the car is at a standstill. For now, this engine is paired to a six-speed manual gearbox.
Talking of transmissions, the seven-speed DCT can be specified on the GT Line models, although currently only with the 1.6-litre CRDi diesel engine (which has also been updated, more on that in a moment). It can apparently handle up to 300Nm, which is far more than the outgoing six-speed traditional automatic it replaces, and it will offer both faster shift times and better economy/emissions to boot. The Kia R&D teams have targeted a three to five per cent improvement in the cee'd's 0-100km/h time for this gearbox, which will roll out to the rest of the Kia range in the near future. Both the T-GDI and the DCT have been developed in-house by the Korean company.
Anything else?
We mentioned the 1.6-litre CRDi and it has been upgraded for the new GT Line cars. It now makes 133hp, compared to 128hp previously, while torque leaps from 265- to 285Nm. Kia expects both performance and 'green' figures to improve on this engine as a result. The Kia cee'd GT Line will be available across Europe in the latter quarter of this year, with the models naturally offered along with the seven-year, 150,000km warranty as standard.