New Sportage Longer, Wider, Lower and Much Better Looking
Canadian Auto Press

There wasn’t much visual separation between Kia’s current generation Sportage and last year’s Hyundai Tucson, but now that an all-new 2010 Tucson has hit the market there’s no way to tell the two come from the same automaker.

2011 Kia Sportage

Sign of the completely revised Tucson also told us a new Sportage was about to debut, and now, ahead of the Geneva motor show fresh photos of Kia’s next generation compact crossover have been released.

The 2011 Sportage looks good, really good, offering a more conventional design than the Tucson that shares its underpinnings. Both are car-based crossovers, the old body-on-frame Sportage that defined Kia’s fun-loving image in 1995 via a TV ad featuring a crazy Cajun screaming “AYEEAAHH!!!” while careening through trees and jumping obstacles as part of his swamp tour, expressing the culinary delights of caiman (“Tastes like chicken”) while a young urban profession couple hung on for dear life, now long gone.

Kia’s new corporate grille defines the look, giving it greater familial ties to the larger Sorento and smaller Soul, while stylish curves and angles are capped off with LED bejeweled headlamp clusters, side-view mirror housing integrated LED turn signals, and LED-enhanced tail lamps. The look is modern and sporty, yet more upscale than the previous Sportage.

While still a compact crossover, the 2011 Sportage is longer and wider than the outgoing 2010 model, while its lower stance and lower allover roof height gives it a seriously sporty demeanor.

Kia has yet to announce any details, but expect the Sportage to get the same 2.4-litre four-cylinder as featured in the Tucson when it debuts here this fall.