Kia begins production of the new-look ProCeed

By Gerry Murphy

Kia has started production in Slovakia of the new ProCeed, merging design with the space and versatility of a tourer in a five-door shooting brake body housing a 594-litre boot, offering greater luggage space than many traditional compact family wagons.

Matching the daring design and engineering which makes it the sportiest iteration of the new Ceed model family, the new third-generation ProCeed will be available in Ireland as a GT Line model. It made its public debut at the 2018 Paris Motor Show, and goes on sale exclusively in Europe in the first quarter of 2019.

“The start of production for the new Kia ProCeed caps off a year of hard work at our Žilina plant, following the successful introduction of the Ceed five-door hatchback and Ceed Sportswagon, as well as the enhanced Kia Sportage,” said Dae Sik Kim, President and CEO of Kia Motors Slovakia.

“We have succeeded in applying new selective catalytic reduction technology into production, dramatically decreasing the amount of emissions from our diesel and gasoline engines to ensure full compliance with the Euro 6d TEMP emissions standard.”

The new model was designed at Kia’s European Design Centre in Frankfurt, Germany, under the direction of Gregory Guillaume, European Head of Design, and Peter Schreyer, President of Design and Chief Design Officer. The design team sought to reinvent the ProCeed to ensure the same vitality and vibrancy wasn’t lost in the car’s transformation into a five-door shooting brake.

“Preparations for volume production of ProCeed commenced at our factory at the end of 2017, starting with the modification and set-up of the latest production line technology,” said Roman Kralovansky, Head of Production at Kia Motors Slovakia.

“The start of production was preceded by education and training for our operators at Kia’s Research and Development Centre in South Korea, as well as here in Žilina. The shooting brake body posed several challenges to us from a production point of view, which we overcame throughout a year of in-depth preparation. The experience has helped us gain a great deal of valuable, new production experience,” he said.

When sales of the new ProCeed commence in 2019, it will be available in Ireland with Kia’s new ‘Kappa’ 1.4-litre T-GDi power unit, which produces 140 ps.