Kia South Africa has confirmed that it plans to launch a new compact sedan called the Pegas around mid-June.
Although pricing has yet to be released, our contact at Kia SA says the Pegas will be positioned between the Picanto and Rio, but priced closer to the former. For reference, the Kia Rio currently starts at R280 995, while the Picanto is priced between R187 995 and R251 995.
The Kia spokesperson also emphasised that contrary to other news reports, the focus will not be on ride-sharing fleets, but rather on young families. The key selling point here, apart from a high-value price tag, is the rather generous 475 litre boot capacity.
We also have confirmation that local Kia Pegas models will be powered by a 1,4-litre normally aspirated petrol engine that produces 69 kW and 132 N.m. Overseas models are offered with either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox and that’s likely to be the case in South Africa too.
The Pegas has a neat but conservative exterior design that takes inspiration from the Rio and previous Cerato models, particularly around the rear door area. The sedan boasts an overall length of 4300 mm, making it slightly longer than the previous Rio sedan, whose shoes it will ultimately fill, but the newcomer is slightly narrower, with a width of 1700 mm.
First introduced in China back in 2017, the Kia Pegas is aimed at developing markets, and it is also sold in countries such as Egypt, Mauritius and Vietnam.
Watch this space for further details closer to launch.
