Autoblog

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If you've been looking in on the live stream of the Nürburgring 24h race, you might spot the car above crossing your video window. It's basically a production-spec Kia pro_ceed (fitted with whatever safety features are required for race participation) powered by the stock 138 hp/225 lb-ft 2.0L diesel. The skinny on this one is that it was entered by Continental Tires' Italian division and will run the entire race on ContiSportContact 3 street tires. The team's goal is to complete the race while making as few tire changes as possible, after which Continental will likely talk about how awesome its tires are in advertising that points back to this particular effort. We'll try to remember to drop the Kia Europe people a line post-race to get the final tally on the number of tire changes they wind up going through.

[Source: Kia/Continental]

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Kia will officially whip the cover off its jaunty Euro-only (why, God... WHY?) pro-cee'd 3-door hatchback on September 11 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. We'll be there to bring you on-scene coverage, but in the interim, Kia has provided a new set of photos showing the car in its entirety. Based on the same architecture that underpins the 5-door cee'd, the pro-cee'd is longer, lower, lighter and sportier-looking thanks to styling elements unique to the 3-door.

Despite the differences in appearance, the pro-ceed boasts interior passenger room on par with its five-door brother, thanks to its identical wheelbase length. And while on the subject of the interior, it's very appealing to the eye -- a requirement if it's to be a viable player against the likes of the VW Golf. Longer doors with 70-degree openings help make backseat ingress and egress less cumbersome (thus minimizing Britney-style exhibitions), and cargo capacity behind the rear seat is said to equal that of the more reserved and outwardly practical cee'd. The pro-cee'd will be available in a wide array of trim, engine, and color combinations when it hits the Continent next year. We'll take one of the 143-horsepower cars equipped with the Sport Pack (shown). Oh wait. That's right, we can't. Bummer.

Press release after the jump.

[Source: Kia]