2010 Kia cee’d spy shots 

Kia cee’d is expected to receive mid-cycle facelift for the 2010 model year. The mid-life makeover will not only affect the five-door hatchback, which has been just recently spotted at an unknown location in Europe, but also both of it’s sibling models, the cee’d sporty wagon and three-door pro_cee’d.

The mid-cycle upgrades are expected to be minimal but they will include exterior and interior changes as well as some technical improvements. In particular, the 2010 Kia cee’d will receive a slightly reworked and a tad more dramatic front fascia, which will now be more in-line with the latest Kia offerings.

By that, I mean the 2010 Kia cee’d will receive a H-shaped chrome signature grille, known also as a “tiger nose” and a slightly revised head-lights. The front bumper will get larger air-intakes and redesigned fog lamps. At rear, the mid-cycle design upgrades will bring the cee’d a set of new tail-lamps, while some corrections will also be made to the rear bumper and lid. New outside mirrors and refreshed aluminium alloy wheels will be rounding up the exterior upgrades.

At this point it’s not known how far will Kia go with the interior upgrades on the 2010 Kia cee’d, but the car is expected to see some slight cabin lay out modifications as well. The facelifted Kia cee’d is scheduled to make it’s European premiere at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show in September, while it’s official sales should commence by the end of the year.

Cee’d family, consisting of five-door hatch, three door sporty pro_cee’d and a sporty wagon has been a major success for Kia Motors ever since it went on sale in the European market. Each year Kia builds thousands of cee’ds at it’s ultra modern manufacturing plant located in Slovakia.

Kia’s first European plant has been one of the most modern ones in the Europe. The state of the art facility has been operational since 2006 and employs around 3.000 people and churns out about 300.000 cars and SUVs a year, when fully operational.

That Kia has hit the nail with the European-built cee’d prove it’s first and second year sales numbers. Just 10 months after the first Kia cee’d car rolled off the production lines Kia announced it has already produced 100.000 units, while only 8 months later it’s sales topped 200.000 units.

The cee’d has also been the first Korean car to achieve the 5-star crash test rating at EuroNCAP crash tests. It was also one of the first C-segment cars in Europe that were made available with eco-friendly start stop technology, and there are many, many more accolades and awards that the car received in it’s short three year life span. Let’s hope Kia can repeat the story of success with the improved and facelifted 2010 model year cee’d. [Source: ceedonline ]