Kia’s attractive, affordable new K4 sedan will also arrive as a wagon. Or a hatchback, but let’s argue about that later.
The 2025 Kia K4 is a cheap car rarity in that it’s real stylish. It’ll be as practical as its footprint allows too, because Kia has confirmed it’ll make the K4 with a liftgate, and that the body style will in fact make it to the United States.
The Kia K4 wagon was confirmed in a presentation at this year’s New York International Auto Show, with a company spokesperson telling Motor1 that it’ll eventually come stateside. Kia officially calls this version a hatchback—understandable, but it’s a long-roof version of a sedan, so we’re inclined to call it a wagon. If you see things our way, it’ll be the first compact wagon to be sold here since the VW Golf Sportwagen left us after 2019. If you see things Kia’s way, it joins the likes of the Subaru Impreza and Toyota Corolla hatches.
The wagon will likely share its powertrains, headlining features, and trim structure with the K4 sedan. It offers either a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder with a CVT or a turbo 1.6-liter with an eight-speed automatic, both being front-wheel drive. Standout features include a 30-inch infotainment screen-slash-instrument cluster and an “AI” voice assistant that raises some privacy concerns. There’ll be GT-Line models too, which among other things upgrade the rear suspension to multilink.
The availability of multilink suspension is intriguing, as the GT-Line trim itself likely won’t make enough money to justify the extra development cost. It stands to reason Kia expects to make it up elsewhere, perhaps with a full-fledged GT. If the K5 GT was anything to go by, such a car could blow the VW Golf GTI out of the water—and it might even give the hallowed Toyota GR Corolla a run for its money too. Fingers crossed.
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