[Kia Niro News]

First officially revealed at the Chicago Auto Show, Kia’s Niro Hybrid Crossover will make an appearance at the upcoming 2016 Geneva Motor Show.

Toyota will need to watch out because this will be Kia’s first dedicated hybrid vehicle and it shares a lot of its components with the Hyundai Ioniq, one of the Prius’ main competitors. The Niro Hybrid will be sharing the whole powertrain with the Ioniq but with a bit of tuning. You’ll be seeing a 1.6-litre petrol engine under the hood with an output of 103hp and it will be paired with a 43hp electric motor. Instead of a CVT transmission Kia has decided to go with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission driving the front wheels.

Packed onto that 103-inch wheelbase is a light 33kg 1.56kWh lithium-ion battery pack and Kia claims that this battery is 50% more energy dense and 13% more energy efficient than the competitions’ battery packs. Probably a jab at the Prius.

Just by looking at the rendering, you wouldn’t be able to tell that the Niro Hybrid only has a drag coefficient of just 0.29 Cd thus increasing the vehicles economy figures, something they took into account since Kia’s engineers were trying to hit a CO2 emissions target of 89g/km and a combined fuel economy of 50mpg for the hybrid. This number hasn’t been confirmed yet but maybe they will do so at the Geneva Motor Show.

Its sales launch is supposed to take place in the fourth quarter of this year so the prices are expected to be released closer to that time, or we could be in for a surprise from Geneva.

 

[Alex]

quite a big move for them to show it off at Geneva, not something I would have expected at all. Seems like Geneva is more reserved for higher end vehicles and things of more significance... maybe that's how Hyundai is seeing it?

 

[Kpwr]

For anyone wanting to see what happened at Geneva with the Niro on the floor:

GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Kia?s Niro eco-car makes European debut - motoring.com.au^