Kia Proceeds With Five-door Shooting Brake, Leaves North America Longing

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Kia is readying the unveiling of its Proceed for European buyers later this month, taking great strides to ensure it matches the concept version. While the Ceed five-door already exists, the Proceed is a full-blown wagon. However, it’ll probably spend the majority of its time referred to as an “estate car” or “shooting brake,” since it’s not supposed to make it out of Europe. That’s slightly tragic, considering the model seems bent on showcasing Kia’s new emphasis on extra-handsome designs.

Kia revealed the Proceed Concept last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show to much praise from the media. The brand claimed it would foreshadow the future of the Ceed lineup’s styling, which bodes well, as the car looks like a Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo and Nissan GT-R put up their bastard offspring for adoption in South Korea.

Existing in final form as a five-door model, Kia is ditching the three-door standard for both shooting brakes in general and the existing “Pro Cee’d,” as it’s aware that buyers are in the market for more doors — not less. “With many European drivers now seeking performance alternatives to the three-door hot hatch, we began thinking about a different halo model for the Ceed family,” Kia’s European design chief Gregory Guillaume said last year.

It’s also ditching the apostrophes for the entire Ceed (formerly Cee’d) lineup, a change we’ve already seen applied for the 2018 model year. However, it’s likely to gain the same engines — a lineup that includes everything from a 1.0-liter T-GDi (turbocharged gasoline with direct injection) through a 1.6-liter, direct-injection diesel. Kia’s 1.6-liter gasoline turbo four is also likely to make an appearance in the Proceed GT. All engines are expected to be mated to a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch auto.

While we suppose it’s not impossible that the Proceed could eventually find its way stateside, the automaker was pretty clear about that not being a concern at present. Kia explicitly said the model was “designed, developed and engineered exclusively for Europe, it represents a unique proposition in the mid-size family car segment.”

It would do the same in North America, as the full-on wagon model would be longer than the Forte5 but shorter than the Optima sedan. It’s also supposed to be sleeker and more squat. But the automaker knows that crossovers/SUVs are where the big U.S. money is, and shipping a single wagon variant of a car to a country that might be preparing to tax the crap out of it might not be the best idea.

Maybe we’ll be fortunate enough to see it in North America in a couple of years, once the public opinion of station wagons shifts back toward the quiet awe they deserve and the trade war settles down. If not, at least those of us that do like the long and lean body style will have something to ogle from a distance. The teaser image of the production model’s rump seems to indicate Kia wants to adhere to the concept as closely as possible, which has us feeling positive about the brand’s current design vision.

We’ll know how closely the automaker followed the formula on September 13th, when Kia pulls the sheets off the Proceed. From there, the car makes its public debut at the 2018 Mondial de l’Auto in Paris on October 2nd.

[Images: Kia]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Raph Raph on Sep 04, 2018

    Well the lead article on the main page says it all. Anything not a truck/suv/cuv is rapidly becoming a niche product.

  • WallMeerkat WallMeerkat on Sep 06, 2018

    "Estate car" is what the UK and Ireland call any wagon, it isn't a special name. "Shooting brake" is an uncommon term usually reserved by motoring enthusiasts for coachbuilt wagons, or wagon-shaped coupes like the Reliant Scimitar (did you know Princess Anne had one?...)

  • Slavuta Inflation creation act... 2 thoughts1, Are you saying Biden admin goes on the Trump's MAGA program?2, Protectionism rephrased: "Act incentivizes automakers to source materials from free-trade-compliant countries and build EVs in North America"Question: can non-free-trade country be a member of WTO?
  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
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