Official teasers of aggressive new 2014 Kia Forte unveiled

The Kia Cerato is the Korean automaker’s bestselling vehicle around the world with over 445,000 units sold in 2011 – even though some of those wore the more recognizable name to Americans of the Kia Forte sedan. For the 2014 model year, the Kia Cerato will become known as the Kia K3 in the Korean domestic market but in other markets, including the United States, we expect the sporty new compact to retain the familiar Forte name.

As you can see in the artists renderings on the right, the 2014 Kia Forte will receive an exterior facelift that has the compact sedan looking a great deal more like the rest of the aggressive Kia lineup design. This includes the angular grille that is so prominently displayed on the 2013 Kia Optima, Sorrento, Sportage and Rio with sharpened headlights that stretch back along the hood giving the new Forte a far more aggressive look than the current 2013 models. The 2014 Forte (should the actual design closely follow these sketches) will also have a far sportier stance than the current Forte sedan with body lines that give the sedan a posture like it is poised to strike. Out back, the 2014 Kia Forte (or K3, depending where you live) will sport some stretched headlights that appear to be similar in design to what is currently featured on the Kia Optima, helping to further the overall design scheme that is spread across the increasingly popular Kia lineup. The headlights and grille design shown in the new 2014 Kia Forte sketches also look a tremendous amount like the new Hyundai Equus-based Kia Quoris/K9 that will also arrive soon in the US, showing that the Korean automaker has definitely gone all-in with their aggressive new exterior styling. Click here for more on the new Kia Quoris.

The 2014 Kia K3 will debut during the first quarter of2013 in Korea with other major global markets receiving their first copies of the 2014 Kia Forte shortly after. This means that the 2014 Forte sedan will most likely make its grand debut next January at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. Kia has promised that, like the current generation of the Forte, the 2014 Forte sedan will be followed up during the 2013 calendar year with a 5-door hatchback and a 2-door coupe – completing the triple threat combo that should help the Forte continue to grow within the compact segment.

Based on the vast improvements made to the Optima, the Rio, the Sportage and the Sorrento with their newest generations, we would expect that the Kia Forte sedan will make a major splash in the American compact market with great fuel economy, impressive driving characteristics and a low price.