looks like the new generation Ceed has gone sensible, nothing wrong with that. Mothers,  shoppers, the Tax Man and Car Buyer want cars with more knee room, head-space, cubby holes, and storage. Always with the more storage. But it seems as though Kia accountants had an overbearing influence on how the new Ceed looked. Good styling can be expensive, efficient styling can be cost-effective. It also appears Kia decided to listen to consumer focus groups, focus groups are notoriously bad influencers, companies take them seriously, a small group of people is carefully selected to represent an entire buying group. These small focus groups effectively design cars for you, based on their individual and personal preferences. The marketing people then analyze the results and inform the accountants, the accountants then tell design and development what the focus group results yielded, the power of graphs and percentages are used as a means of defense to justify… the ordinary. Ordinary is a binary language. So what we ended up with is the third generation Kia Ceed that has had all of its previous design history eliminated, cleansed if you will, it has been silenced it is now… dull, the definition of dull. We’re always in favor of leaving the design and engineering work to the… designers and engineers. Sure there will be compromises because designers are as narrow-minded as focus groups but they implement design better than focus group questionnaires because that is their raison d’être. This is a car built to meet the needs of a typical Car Buyer review more headroom, knee room, and storage space and I don’t know what ese? a wider boot? Better rear visibility! We need better rear visibility! The Ceed is designed and built in Europe specifically to meet European tastes, always has been, the new Ceed is wider, duller and longer than the model it replaces. The interior receives a materials upgrade for a more premium offering. The engine range will consist of a 3-cylinder 1.0-litre, 118bhp petrol engine in addition to a 1.4-litre unit available in two 98bhp and 140bhp variants. A 1.6-litre turbo diesel is also available in two power variants, 113bhp of 134bhp. The Ceed will be offered in many model trims, similar to what is already available and a six-speed manual is standard across the range, the 7-speed dual clutch transmission is available as an option except for entry-level petrol engines. The Ceed will go on sale in the summer, prices have yet to be confirmed (always another press release away), however, prices are expected to start from £15k.