KUALA LUMPUR: Naza Kia Malaysia is introducing the third generation Picanto (JA) while promising it to be the company's most versatile vehicle with a futuristic design, safety enhancements and better performance.

The company has earmarked the car's local debut for Jan 10 (February for East Malaysia) at selected Kia Showrooms after it was unveiled at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. A Kia on Tour Roadshow will feature the car from Jan 10-14 at the One Utama shopping centre.

The new Picanto has a 2,400mm (+15mm) wheelbase, while measuring 3,595mm-long, 1,595mm-wide and 1,485mm-tall (-5mm).

Boasting of greater use of high-tensile steel over its predecessor, this non-national A-segment vehicle has three petrol engine options - 1.0-litre NA, 1.0-litre Turbocharged and 1.2-litre NA, but it is unconfirmed as to which will find its way under the hood, while mated to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox.

Additionally, luggage capacity and space efficiency has been further improved upon thanks to its foldable 60:40-split second row seats providing 1,010 litres of cargo space.

For entertainment, there will be a ‘floating’ 7.0-inch touchscreen at the centre of the dashboard.

This will allow for seamless smartphone connectivity for music, calls, messages and directions.

It will also include navigation, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and voice recognition.

To further bolster safety, the Picanto will include six-airbags as before and may add torque vectoring brake based system, straight line stability, forward collision warning system and autonomous emergency braking.

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