New 2020 Kia Ceed Sportswagon Plug-in hybrid goes on sale

The new plug-in hybrid Kia Ceed Sportswagon PHEV is on sale in the UK now, priced from £29,995, with deliveries to be confirmed later in the year.

It’s powered by 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor fed by a 8.9kWh lithium-polymer battery pack. The system produces a combined output of 139bhp and 265Nm of torque.

The PHEV powertrain sends power to the front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch automatic, allowing the Ceed Sportswagon to accelerate from 0–62mph in 10.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 105mph. Regarding fuel economy, Kia claims 188.3mpg under WLTP rules, with 33g/km CO2. 

Kia claims the Ceed Sportwagon has an all-electric range of up to 29 miles before the petrol engine needs to step in. When plugged into a domestic 3.3kW wallbox charger, the car will recover a 100 percent charge in just over two hours.

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The Ceed Sportswagon PHEV is exclusively available in Kia’s range-topping “3” trim level, which comes as standard with 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED headlamps, rain-sensing windscreen wipers, LED daytime running lights, rear privacy glass and a pair of matte silver roof rails. It also features a closed-off radiator grille, which Kia says improves aerodynamics.

Buyers also get a host of standard safety and driver assistance technology, including lane-keeping assist, high beam assist, a driver attention warning system, cruise control, a speed limiter, hill start assist and a forward collision avoidance system.

Inside, the Ceed Sportswagon PHEV comes with cloth and faux-leather seat upholstery, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, two-zone air conditioning, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and a reconfigured version of Kia’s 10.25-inch infotainment system as standard, which offers support for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Kia’s UVO telematics system.

The latter software upgrade incorporates a range of new PHEV-specific features, such as a public charge-point locator and a charge scheduling function for home charging, allowing owners to take advantage of off-peak energy tariffs. It also features Kia’s new “Driver Only” heating and air-conditioning function, which is designed to reduce the draw on the battery systems by switching off all but the driver’s ventilation fans.

The boot sizes up at 437 litres with all seats in place, and expands to 1,506 by folding the rear seats down. The packaging requirements of the plug-in powertrain mean that these figures are falls from 625 litres and 1,694 litres in non-hybrid versions of the firm’s Ford Focus Estate rival.

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