What's the news?
Feast your eyes on this and lament the fact that here's another motor show concept car that will never see the outside of an exhibition hall - it's the glamorous Kia Novo, displayed on the Korean firm's home patch at the Seoul Motor Show.
Exterior
Aside from the slightly flabby looking section of the car above the rear wheel arch (when viewed in profile), it's a beautiful, sci-fi-styled thing. It was penned at the Namyang design centre in Korea and while the Novo is unlikely to make it to production in this guise, it performs the classic concept car function of 'giving clear hints of future Kia styling'. So take your pointers from the minimal front and longer rear overhangs, the fastback roofline and the coupe-inspired shape with a slim glasshouse. There are still traditional Kia signifiers present, like the tiger-nose grille, but things that are defiantly untraditional are laser running lamps in the air intakes, rear-hinged doors at the back and sculpted aluminium door mirrors. The whole thing is in two-tone silver-and-green paint finish with an aluminium rear roofline.
Interior
Looking like something out of a Tron reboot, the driver-centric dash is minimalist and edgy. No need for something as old hat as a TFT instrument cluster here; the Novo has 3D hologrammatic displays. And that upright oblong between the air vents and the steering column? That's the 'blind control' touch pad - no, not a gadget which removes the power of sight from the driver, but a way for the person behind the wheel to control the car's many functions without taking their eyes off the road. That touch pad has a fingerprint scanner in it as well, so elements of the car (music selection, audio volume, seat position and so on) can be set up quickly when the driver enters the car.
Mechanicals
The Novo is powered by the 1.6-litre Kappa T-GDI turbocharged petrol engine, with the front wheels driven via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT). No power or torque figures are quoted but both the engine and gearbox are making their way into production Kias already.
Perhaps the bigger talking point is the Novo's 'adaptive concave profile' tyres. These have a sunken middle section between the two contact points. There are numerous benefits to this crazy set-up: it helps to cool the rubber when moving; it channels excess road water away from the wheels for more grip; they provide lower rolling resistance to improve economy; and road noise is reduced due to thinner contact patches.
Anything else?
Hello, what's this? Were we being too hasty? Kia signs off its Novo announcement by saying: "Although there are currently no plans to bring the Kia Novo concept to production, Kia has a history of delivering production vehicles that bear a strong resemblance to concept vehicles that precede them. The Kia Novo concept provides a glimpse into Kia's plans for its future compact car line-up." So will we see the Novo in showrooms in years to come? Here's hoping.