The accountants and survey people have been hard at work over in Kia HQ. Between them, they have managed to make the all-new Ceed more sensible and practical. Unfortunately, the external styling has taken a direct hit. While the all-new Kia Ceed has stylish design elements, in isolation, the rear end of the car looks as though it was designed a decade ago.

Nevertheless, the designed, developed, engineered and built in Europe Kia Ceed has gone full on GT. Meet the Kia Ceed GT hot hatch. The 1.6-litre T-GDi (the T very obviously stands for Turbo) produces 201bhp and 265Nm of torque. It revs to 6,000rpm. A few years ago a 200bhp hatchback would have been groundbreaking, today in 2018 it’s the new normal. The Kia Ceed GT will be available with an optional seven-speed Dual-Clutch Transmission, in addition to the standard six-speed manual gearbox. It is finished with a glossy chrome window surround and features more in-your-face side sills, finished in gloss black and red. The standard 18-inch aluminium alloy wheels feature a new castellated centre cap finished in red, and house red brake calipers. The ride height is reduced by 5 mm over other Ceed and Ceed Sportswagon variants. The Kia Ceed GT has gone down to the gym and found someone selling steroids and as a result, the front and rear bumpers are more muscular, GT muscular spec. Available across Europe in a choice of eight paint finishes, the Kia Ceed GT is distinguished with its own unique 18-inch alloy wheel design. The sports seats, created exclusively for the model, provide larger, firmer side and thigh bolsters. The seats are trimmed in black leather and suede and finished with red stitching and a red-stitched ‘GT’ logo in the seat back. Kia has reworked and improved the suspension and braking systems on top of the steering to make the Ceed GT, hopefully, handle like a GT. Despite fitting a sportier exhaust, Kia have decided fitted an electronically enhanced exhaust note, that is fed through the speakers, to boost the engine note. The Kia Ceed GT will go on sale in Q1 2019, expect a fully loaded hot hatch with the latest driver assist and in-car entertainment technologies. Kia has yet to reveal the price has yet to be revealed.