New Kia Sportage LEAKS ahead of Frankfurt debut

The new Kia Sportage is heading for a debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but ahead of that we have the first leaked photos of Kia’s new compact SUV.

Just a few days ago, Kia released the first design sketches of the new Sportage – ahead of its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show – but now we get the real deal thanks to a leaked official photo of the Sportage from the Korean Car Blog.

Unsurprisingly, the actual Kia Sportage looks nowhere near as dynamic and appealing as Kia’s sketches, but it is a move on for the Korean compact SUV – sister car to the new Hyundai Tucson.

The design of the new Sportage is clearly more evolutionary than the design sketches suggested, but it is a bolder design and does look more ‘Premium’ than the current model.

Under the skin, the new Sportage will be very similar to the new Tucson, so we’ll get the same choice of engines as well as front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive options.

From what we saw when Kia released design sketches, the interior will be much more upmarket than the current car, with a simpler, less cluttered layout and more premium materials.

With the first photos of the new Kia Sportage out in the wild, it seems highly likely Kia will officially reveal its new model in the coming days.