Yikes, the new Kia Sportage has an… interesting face

Here’s a crossover you won’t lose in a car park. It’s the new, fifth-generation Kia Sportage, and it’s due to go on sale later this year. 

Not in the UK, mind. Kia says that for the first time in the Sportage’s 28-year history, it’s going to do a “dedicated European version” of its popular five-seat, family crossover. It’s that car, which ought to be revealed in September, that will be sold in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe. This one, meanwhile, is for the rest of the world. Look out, world. 

So, will Europe’s Sportage look much different to this one? We doubt it. The Sportage is the second Kia after the new EV6 to deploy the company’s “Opposites United” design language that “will influence all future Kia designs, giving them the same basic DNA”. The same DNA as an angry deep-sea predator, perhaps?

It’s an, erm, ‘interesting’ looking thing. Especially that front-end, which will no doubt divide opinion. An even bolder-looking version is in the pipeline, too. Kia promises the Sportage ‘X-line’ will “convey a more confident, vigorous and versatile character” with different bumpers, sills and a roof rack. No word on whether it’ll make it to the UK. 

The interior is more conventional, with a couple of high-def curved screens atop the dashboard and, mercifully, a separate strip of climate controls underneath. Engines are TBC, but we know the engines aren't what you're going to want to chat about in the comments. So...

Thoughts?