Kia K4 revealed for New York as the Forte's successor

NEW YORK – The new 2025 Kia K4 has been revealed just before the New York Auto Show, and it will officially replace the Forte as the brand's small sedan. It adopts much bolder design than the car it replaces and clearly takes inspiration from recent Kia EVs and concepts. But under the skin, you'll find some familiar components.

The design picks up the sharp lines and broad fenders of vehicles like the EV9. The fenders in particular have bulging sections that really emphasize the wheels and width of the car, while the hidden rear door handles help give a pseudo-coupe look. At the front, the headlights adopt the vertical elements made popular on Telluride while maintaining some swept-back aspects. The slim grille transitions into what looks like a very low and long hood. The K4's profile looks much more like a fastback hatch, but it remains a true sedan with a trunk. And on the topic of the rear, it has nearly full-width taillights with vertical aspects that mirror the front. There are some design changes between trims, specifically when going to the GT-Line that gets unique styling front and rear, plus 18-inch wheels and black trim. The K4 is also bigger than the old Forte, coming in at 2.7 inches longer and 1.9 inches wider. 

The K4's interior feels very Kia. It has that beveled, chiseled look of the EV9 yet again, even down to the graphics on the dual-screen monolith atop the dash. Kia says the display area measures a total of 30-inches diagonally. The air vents are integrated into the wide and low dash that is so de rigueur. We dig the soft green color of the interior, though sadly it's only available on the EX trim. Other trims get a simple dark grey color scheme, and the GT-Line models get a black and white interior. The K4's interior also has an interesting bit of asymmetry with the section of the driver's door panel meeting the dash being black, whereas the same part of the passenger door is in color. Kia claims more rear seat space with 38 inches of leg room and 37.3 inches of rear head room. Unfortunately, some trunk space has been lost in the redesign, going from 15.3 to 14.6 cubic feet of space.

Mechanically, the K4 is quite familiar, using the same basic powertrains as before. The regular models get a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque, while ont he GT-Line, there's an optional turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 190 horsepower and 195 pound-feet. Those are almost the same specs with the exception of the turbo engine losing 11 horsepower. Also, manual options are gone altogether. The 2.0-liter engine comes with a CVT, and the turbo GT-Line is only available with an eight-speed automatic, which supplants the old 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. Front-wheel drive is the only driveline, and 2.0-liter cars get a torsion-beam rear suspension, while the turbo cars get a multilink rear end, just as before.

The new K4 will go on sale in the second half of this year. Pricing and fuel economy numbers haven't been announced, but we would expect both to be similar to the current model. So stay tuned for those details later this year.