The new Kia Picanto, revealed at the Geneva Motor Show at the beginning of March, is now on sale in the UK.

Priced from £8,345 for the three-door version and £8,545 for the entry-level five-door, the upgraded version of the Picanto features styling, re-engineering and specification revisions and a new trim grade, SR7, which replaces the former VR7 model and adds more equipment.

All versions - three- and five-door - have a revised front end, featuring new head lights, a new bumper design with vertical foglamp housing and a restyled rear bumper.

From Autumn production the 1.0-litre and 1.25-litre engines will meet EU6 emissions regulations.

There are new, eight-spoke, petal-shaped 14-inch alloy wheels exclusive to the five-door grade 2 model.

Further versions featuring an audio-visual navigation system linked to a seven-inch screen will be added later in the year.

The three-cylinder 1.0-litre unit delivers 68bhp and 95Nm of torque through a five-speed manual gearbox, while the 1.25-litre four-cylinder version develops 84bhp and 121Nm of torque, and is available with either a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission, depending on model.

The 1.0-litre engine has combined fuel economy of 67.3mpg with CO2 emissions of 99g/km in standard form, but this is improved to 68.9mpg and 95g/km of CO2 when allied to Kia's ISG engine stop/start system.

The 1.25-litre four-cylinder version with the five-speed manual gearbox and standard ISG has fuel economy and emissions of 65.7mpg (2 grade) or 62.8mph (grades 3 and 4) with respective CO2 emissions of 100 and 106g/km, while with the four-speed automatic gearbox the figures are 53.3mpg and 125g/km (Picanto 2) or 50.4mpg and 130g/km (Picanto 3).