New Kia Naimo is all square

Days surrounding April 1 in this business are always a cringeworthy experience as ridiculously transparent ‘pranks’ by carmakers seep through the wires.

But Kia celebrated the day without a hint of sarcasm, unveiling Naimo, an electric concept, at the Seoul motor show.

If you ask us, the Kia Naimo takes its design inspiration from a confused frog, but the Korean company says ideas came from the country’s heritage combined with modernity.

The CUV’s coolest features, apart from the goofy mouth (electric cars don’t need a grille, people), are a wraparound windscreen and asymmetric sunroof.

The interior is spotted with oak trim as well as paper for the headlining, begging the questions, “Are you sure this isn’t another inane April Fool’s joke?”

At just 3,900mm long, Naimo manages to pack five doors, great interior room and a huge C-pillar blind spot.

The motor develops the equivalent of 107bhp and 280Nm of torque enabling a 150kph top speed, or barely enough to keep up with slow-lane traffic on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway.

Instead the impressive specs come from the range, which is a healthy 200km on a single charge.

If you’ve got 25 minutes to kill and a suitable socket, you can get 80 per cent of Naimo’s capacity charged, but a full charge takes five and a half hours. No, we don’t understand their maths either...