Kia isn’t done updating its budget Picanto, at least not overseas

The Kia Picanto has come in for a series of updates for 2027 in its home market, but these aren’t being applied in Australia yet.

In Korea, the Kia Morning – as the Picanto is known there – has received new equipment.

All Mornings apart from the two-seat ‘van’ version now feature a driver’s knee airbag, while some variants gain a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and a green interior colourway.

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Others stick with a 4.2-inch instrument cluster screen, like the Australian-market Picanto. LED map lights have also been made standard across the Morning lineup.

Kia Australia has confirmed that there are no specification changes to the Picanto for model year 2027 (MY27).

“The only change to the range was the dropping of the GT-Line manual, due to customer demand,” said a company spokesperson.

Pricing is also unchanged, with the range opening at $19,190 before on-road costs for the Sport manual, or $22,290 drive-away. While it was previously Australia’s cheapest car, the MG 3 is now being offered from $20,990 drive-away in base Vibe guise with a standard auto.

The Picanto Sport auto is priced at $20,790 before on-roads, while the GT-Line auto is priced at $22,590 plus on-roads.

It’s not unusual for there to be specification differences between Australian and Korean-market versions of Kia’s micro car.

The Korean Morning, for example, is available with luxury features like a ventilated driver’s seat, a sunroof, and a heated steering wheel.

All Korean-market variants also feature a naturally aspirated 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine producing 56kW of power and 95Nm of torque, mated with a four-speed automatic transmission.

The Australian-market Picanto has a larger naturally aspirated 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine with 62kW and 122Nm, mated with either a five-speed manual or four-speed auto – though as mentioned, for MY27 the manual is now restricted to the base Sport.

The Picanto was axed in New Zealand late last year but remains on sale in Australia where it has a whopping 95 per cent share of its segment. Mind you, that segment only has one other vehicle: the Fiat 500.

So far this year, Kia has delivered 2154 Picantos in Australia, down 10.5 per cent on the same period in 2025. Nevertheless, if you lump micro cars and light cars together, the Picanto is second overall and is outsold only by the MG 3 (2418 year-to-date).

Pricing

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