After we now almost all, despite it is not possible to test yet, about the Kia Proceed, today we will know from the hands of Gregory Guillaume, the Proceed Design Story.
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“The new ProCeed is a bold and vibrant reinterpretation of our hatchback ambassador. It not only embodies Kia’s youthful dynamism and emotional engagement, but also combines rakish muscularity with the versatility of a new five-door body to create a unique proposition in Europe’s incredibly competitive mid-size family car segment,” says Gregory Guillaume, Kia Motors Europe’s Chief Designer at its European Design Centre.
Since it made its global debut a decade ago, the pro_cee’d, as it was then, has always been the emotional halo model in the cee’d family. “At the time, we successfully pushed as hard as possible for a flagship model that would encapsulate the passion, the love and the sheer enthusiasm we all possess for cars at Kia. After all, we’re car fans first, designers second,” explains Guillaume.
“While its 2012 successor progressed this dynamic pedigree even further, we knew that discerning European drivers were opening up to the idea of something outside of the traditional three-door hot hatch,” adds Guillaume.
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With his Frankfurt-based European design team, under the watch of Peter Schreyer, President of Design and Chief Design Officer, Guillaume and his team explored how best to reinvent pro_cee’d to ensure that all its vitality and vibrancy wasn’t simply lost.
The Proceed Concept that wowed show-goers at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September 2017 was a dramatic clue to the new design direction Guillaume and his team were following. The striking concept took the familiar five-door format and reworked it, marrying an imposing new visual presence with a generous helping of real-world flexibility.
Unsurprisingly, the new ProCeed – designed, developed and engineered exclusively for Europe – closely follows the design blueprint introduced by the Proceed Concept. Key to this visual athleticism are its muscular proportions and commanding stance. While the ProCeed shares its frontal architecture and design with its much-lauded five-door sibling, everything rearwards of the A-pillar is unique to the ProCeed.
Inspired by the Frankfurt 2017 show car, the ProCeed’s low-slung roofline flows tightly over the cabin’s narrow glasshouse before dropping dramatically to meet the tailgate, complete with integrated roof spoiler. The glasshouse itself, featuring blacked-out B- and C-pillars, is highlighted by a bold chrome-effect border, and is complemented by the acutely angled Sharkblades housed at the base of the C-pillars.
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Its muscular shoulders are further enhanced by the extended rear overhang, complete with its full-width LED light-bar, yet another design element drawn from last year’s concept car.
Despite these lithe proportions that leave it lower and longer than both its Ceed hatchback and wagon stablemates, the new ProCeed combines family-friendly packaging wrapped in head-turning sheetmetal, creating a car that’s as engaging to look at as it is to live with. In keeping with its flagship status, the new ProCeed will only be available as a high-performance GT model or in GT-Line specification.
The ProCeed may usher in a new design direction for Kia’s performance-oriented hatchbacks, but its many familiar design motifs – crisply contoured flanks, distinctive ‘tiger nose’ grille, castellated windscreen and full-length glazed roof – instantly identify it as a contemporary box-fresh Kia. Similarly, it shares its intelligently configured and generously appointed cabin with the five-door hatch.
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“The new ProCeed is a car I hold very close to my heart, because the first-generation pro_cee’d was the first Kia I designed from the ground up,” continues Guillaume. “As a design team unified by our passion for cars, we traced that emotional lineage back to the original pro_cee’d and channelled the same unbridled enthusiasm into creating the new ProCeed.”
“Make no mistake, while the five-door format has changed, the ProCeed name has not. You see, ProCeed was not just the name we automatically gave to our previous three-door cee’d,” explains Guillaume. “It means so much more than that – it’s a badge of honour reserved for the model that not only sits at the top of the Ceed family, but one that’s also immediately identifiable as the most emotionally engaging car in the range. Simply put, ProCeed is the Kia that will make you heart beat that much faster.”
