Next-Gen 2023 Kia Niro Takes Shape In Rendered Form

The current Niro has been around for about five years now and it is expected to be replaced in 2022 - 2023.

By: Andrei Nedelea

Apr 9, 2021 at 12:53pm ET

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The Niro proved to be a very successful model for Kia. It is sold as a pure ICE vehicle, a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid or the fully-electric e-Niro (also known as the Niro EV in North America). It was what the market wanted, at the right moment: an affordable, competent crossover that had a very wide array of available powertrains, but it will have to be replaced by an all-new model in a year or two (it was facelifted in 2020).

Our spies have already seen camouflaged prototypes of the second-gen Niro driving around, but we can’t really tell what it’s going to look like because only the greenhouse part was visible (and even that was partly hidden). It does appear to be a more upright and SUV-like vehicle, but other than that we can’t really say.

This rendering created by Motor.es might help us quench our curiosity. It previews a stout and more angular looking crossover, that features a variation of the current Kia family face. The artist who created it also gave it a blacked out C-pillar and some bold plastic cladding on the lower part of the doors, extending around the front wheel arch and onto the bumper.

The vehicle also features the new Kia logo, as well as a light bar linking the daytime running LED lights from the headlight clusters. All of this is pure speculation at this point, but this is a very believable attempt to preview the Niro.

What do you think?

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The next-gen Niro will most likely be built on an evolution of the existing models’ underpinnings, so not the new E-GMP platform. This means it won’t get the big battery packs or the 800-volt technology that the new architecture brings, although we do expect Kia to improve the efficiency, performance and range over the current model (probably with knowledge learned from developing E-GMP and the first vehicle it underpins).