The new Kia Ceed will look like a Stinger

Remember the Cee’d – or C-apostrophe-D – Top Gear’s old Reasonably Priced Car? Well, the big news is the apostrophe’s gone. This is the new Kia Ceed - in sketch form, at least - with completely normal punctuation.

If that makes you sad, then cease worrying. The name may have dumbed down but the car looks to have gone the other way; the new Ford Focus and VW Golf rival is “inspired by the fastback styling of the Stinger", we’re told, and this illustration certainly suggests that’s the case.

The Kia Stinger’s grille is present, there’s a pair of mean, squinting headlights and there are aggressive slashes everywhere. Hopefully this picture doesn’t prove to be too cartoonish, as it looks like a pumped-up little car.

We’re told little else about the car, other than it’s been enginnered exclusively for Europe and that “the ride and handling characteristics of the new model elevate the Ceed over its predecessor in terms of dynamism, driver engagement and refinement.”

Whether Kia will build a hot hatch version to battle cousin Hyundai and its i30N, we don’t know. Neither is there any word on a Proceed three-door; given there’s no longer a VW Scirocco to rival, we suspect it may not happen this time around.

We’ll find out more about the third-gen Ceed – and its controversial lack of an apostrophe – at next month’s Geneva motor show.