KIA has unveiled its latest-gen small four-door at the Detroit Motor Show, with the new Forte making its debut at North America’s biggest motor show ahead of its mid-2018 local arrival as the Cerato sedan.

Stretched 81.3mm longer and 17.8mm wider to occupy a 4640mm-by-1798mm footprint, the fresh-look Cerato sedan offers more cabin space than before as well as a bigger ‘n’ bolder visual presence. Design cues cribbed from the Stinger are evidenced in the front bumper, while the rear end’s stumpy deck lid appears almost Audi A3-ish and its tail-lamp LED graphics look like heavily inspired by Jaguar.

How does the hatch look? No idea yet. In the sedan-friendly US, Kia doesn’t bother with a Forte hatch.

An eight-inch colour infotainment touchscreen sits in a tombstone housing atop the centre stack, while a wireless charging pad will be available in some grades. For the US-market Forte, more advanced safety tech such as lane-keep assist, AEB and active cruise control make their way onto the spec list, as does smartphone mirroring in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

A six-speed manual will be standard, with an “Intelligent Variable Transmission” available as an option.

Other mechanical changes include reworked suspension geometry for sharper steering response, while the electrically assisted steering has been retuned to dial out the artificial feel of the current model.