Kia Picanto now more affordable, but can it claw back sales ground lost to Grand i10, Swift?

Once a prime contender in the budget hatch space, the Kia Picanto has seen flagging sales in the past few years as prices gradually rose beyond the level of its key rivals.

Consider that in the past three months Kia sold an average of 161 Picantos per month, while the Hyundai Grand i10 averaged 1,373 and the Suzuki Swift 1,834.

Until now, the least expensive Picanto, the LX, cost R260,995, considerably more than the R224,900 starting price of both the Grand i10 and Swift.

Now Kia South Africa has put its baby hatch back into contention with the launch of the 1.0 LS, which costs R236,995 in manual form and R256,995 as an auto, according to Duoporta and Cars.co.za.

That makes the new, and quietly announced, base model a cool R24,000 less expensive than the LX.

But it gets even better, with the Kia SA website now listing further discounts on some of its Picanto models, slashing the price of the new LS to R229,995 and the LX to R245,995.

The higher-spec 1.2 EX (now from R269,995) and 1.2 EX (R292,995) also receive R15,000 discounts in manual form, while the autos have R20,000 slashed off their sticker prices.

But what features have been cut from the new base model?

From what we can decipher on Kia’s specification chart, the only things the LS loses out on, versus the LX, are leather steering wheel trim, 40:60 split and folding function for the rear seat, and the option of metallic paint is no longer available.

Like the LX, it still has manual air conditioning, an 8.0-inch infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, electric windows and mirrors, remote central locking, tilt-adjustable steering wheel, and driver’s seat height adjustment.

Safety kit includes dual front airbags and ABS, but stability control is only fitted from the EX upwards.

Like the rest of the Picanto range, the LS is sold with a two-year or 30,000km warranty and a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. It's also powered by the familiar 1.0-litre normally aspirated engine, which produces 49kW and 95Nm.

The price-cutting strategy has worked out well for the Kia Sonet compact SUV, whose monthly sales now regularly surpass 800 units, following the introduction of a 1.5 LS base model that costs less than R300,000.

Will the Picanto see better sales numbers?

In our most recent review of the Kia Picanto, we were impressed with the overall quality, and we felt it surpassed its natural rivals in that respect, but the pricing was deemed a stumbling block. That could be about to change with the introduction of the LS. 

Keep in mind, though, that it is missing some relatively important safety features now fitted as standard to rivals like the Swift, including side and curtain airbags and stability control

IOL