Meet the new K3.
Unlike some American automakers, Kia refuses to give up on sedans of all sizes. It s even giving them new names. The midsize Kia Optima is now the Kia K5. Kia has yet to officially confirm it, but we highly suspect the Forte will be rebranded K3 for 2022. It s already known as such in its home market.
What you re looking at are the first official images of the refreshed Forte/K3, which we caught a glimpse of in leaked images earlier this month. The compact sedan will be revealed in full in a few weeks but the US market debut could take a little longer.
Inside, the compact sedan also gets one major upgrade.
Kia has been rejigging its nameplates a lot recently. The latest 2022 Carnival MPV replaces the previous Sedona and the previous Optima name was ditched in favor of the global name, K5, for the brand s stylish new sedan. Will the smaller Kia Forte - known as the Cerato or K3 in other markets - follow with a standardized name of its own in the near future? That s not clear at this stage, but new pictures of the facelifted Cerato/Forte have surfaced, at least giving us an idea of what this compact model will look like.