Go to Australia says the pint format Picanto The city car isn’t going away, with the brand’s local product boss committing to the budget hatchback for years to come.
In conversation with Daily SparkzGeneral manager of product planning at Kia Australia, Roland Rivero, said the local arm would not follow its New Zealand counterparts and abandon the brand’s smallest model, reaffirming its important role in the Australian lineup.
“Picanto will be with us for many years to come. That’s all I can say,” Mr. Rivero said. “We love Picanto. It’s great for our brand, it’s a great entry point for Kia here in Australia.”
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“Are we going to do things under NVES? I think every powertrain, every car we look at from the NVES perspective, and that will always be a permanent situation. If we need to think about how to reduce our carbon footprint, we will work with (Kia Global) to look at ways to do that.”
“But at the moment Picanto is doing very well and we will never want to delist this product because there is strong, strong demand for it here in Australia,” Mr Rivero added.
Kia essentially owns the Australian subcompact car segment in Australia, commanding a 94.6 percent market share in 2025, with the Abarth/Fiat 500 making up the remainder.
Extend this to VFACTS’ light passenger car segment as well, and the Picanto was only second to the MG 3 last year (7166 versus 8350 units). The Picanto also recorded growth of 23.1 percent in the calendar year.
The Kia Picanto remains one of Australia’s cheapest new cars, priced from $19,190 plus on-road costs, or $22,140 one-way. Only the base MG 3 is cheaper, starting at $21,888 per car at the time of writing.
Both manual and automatic transmission options remain, and in Australia the Picanto is offered in both base Sport and premium GT Line trims – bringing the total number of variants to four.
Mr. Rivero’s comments on NVES and emissions are also interesting given the Picanto’s limited powertrain offerings in other markets. In Europe and the UK, the Picanto has switched to a Euro 6d-certified 1.0-litre naturally aspirated direct-injection petrol engine producing 68hp (50kW) and 96Nm – compared to the 62kW/122Nm 1.25-litre atmospheric four-cylinder engine with multi-point fuel injection in Australian models.
According to ADR testing, the four-cylinder Picanto in Australia achieves fuel consumption of 4.6 to 5.1 l/100 km, with combined cycle CO2 emissions estimated at 125 to 140 g/km. British specifications show the 1.0 GDi achieving 5.4-5.8L/100km (52.3-48.7mpg) on the stricter WLTP cycle.
Depending on the variant, emissions are given at a more favorable 122-132 g/km, again compared to the stricter WLTP regime – the more relevant figure for NVES. In preparation for the new Euro 7 regulations, Kia is also preparing an even more efficient 1.0 DPi powertrain with 62 hp (46 kW).
In July last year, Ho Sung Song, president and CEO of Kia Motors, told the UK Autocar Given the continued popularity of the Picanto around the world, the Korean automaker is currently “studying and developing” a city-sized budget electric vehicle “EV1”. Technically, Kia already offers an electric car for the city – the Picanto-based Ray – but this big, boxy model is exclusive to Korea.
However, it could still be a few years before Kia brings such a product to market, and shifts in electrification and emissions laws overseas could mean that internal combustion engines in cars like the Picanto could be available for a while longer.
MORE: Explore the Kia Picanto showroom
