Kia’s new Pro_Cee’d will be priced from £17,495 and is available to order from UK dealers now.

The three-door model joins the five-door Cee’d and Cee’d Sportswagon as the third model in the range. The hot hatch Pro_Cee’d GT will join the line-up in the summer.

Kia is moving away from its customary model nomenclature of 1,2,3 for its trim levels and will be offering the Pro_Cee’d in S and SE levels. Two engines are offered, a 1.6-litre GDi petrol and a 1.6-litre CRDi turbodiesel with Intelligent Stop & Go (ISG). Both engines are available in each trim grade.

A six-speed manual transmission is standard across the range and Kia’s six-speed dual clutch transmission (DCT) gearbox is also available in 1.6 GDi ‘SE’ guise.

Peter Schreyer, president and chief Design Officer, Kia Motors Corporation, said: “The new Kia Pro_Cee’d is a true clean sheet design.

“With its distinctive form language and dynamic proportions, muscular stance and athletic lines, this ‘coupe’ follows a very different visual path to the Cee’d. It’s a completely different car on every level.”

With the exception of the front body structure, several major parts of the bodyshell – the roof, body sides, and rear-end – have been redesigned compared to the current Cee’d.

On the outside, the ‘S’ and ‘SE’ grades share all the same visual cues except for the alloy wheel size and design – they are 16-inch on the ‘S’ and 17-inch on the ‘SE’.

All versions of the Pro_Cee’d have servicing intervals of 20,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes sooner.

Kia Pro_Cee’d prices

Pro_Cee’d ‘S’ 1.6 GDi £17,495
Pro_Cee’d ‘S’ 1.6 CRDi £18,595
Pro_Cee’d ‘SE’ 1.6 GDi £19,495
Pro_Cee’d ‘SE’ 1.6 CRDi £20,595
Pro_Cee’d ‘SE’ 1.6 GDi DCT £20,795