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2016 Kia Optima Teased Before New York Debut

Geneva was only a warm-up for Kia because the real deal is going to make a debut during the 2015 New York International Auto Show. That’s right, the Kia SPORTSPACE concept is going to turn into the new Kia Optima on American soil.
2016 Kia Optima 3 photos
Photo: Kia
2016 Kia Optima2016 Kia Optima
Judging by the SPORTSPACE concept’s appearance coupled with the two sketches released by Kia as a teaser for the new Optima, all we ca say is that we’re eager to see the real thing in the metal as bad as a teenager wants to go on spring break - puppy eyes included.

As usual, such enthusiastic sketches should be approached with caution in the sense that we should hold our horses and keep our expectations to a reasonable level. I mean, the two pictures do preview a good looking car, but the production version is likely to show less drama and more pragmatism in terms of design.

Forget about the low roofline and muscular wheel arches because the production model won’t get any of those, but something tells us the European Passat-Modeo-Superb-Insignia quartet would have something to worry about. Which is good, you know, for competition and all that.

While the SPORTSPACE concept got a four-cylinder 250 HP 2.0-liter T-GDI pot running on petrol for its Geneva debut, Kia will most likely hand out more down-to-Earth units for the new Optima. There should also be a hybrid version based on a diesel engine and an electric motor, but we’ll have more to tell you once the car will premiere on April 1 at the 2015 NYIAS.

All we get from South-Korean officials at the moment is that the 2016 Optima is “passionately designed and obsessively crafted” but we’ve heard this tape before.
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