They’re not really going to try to say it has Stinger styling cues, are they?

Well, yes, they are, but that really just means a few black gloss vents and fake intakes here and there.

Peter Schreyer designed both, but let’s be fair here – the Cerato owes more to the Optima than the Stinger, simply by virtue of the fact that its proportions are distinctly ‘‘USA FWD’’, which means that slightly cab-forward look that our American friends favour in their small front-driven sedans.

It is a handsome enough thing though – one that will almost certainly improve in hatch form (weirdly, cab-forward small sedans always do) – and remains inoffensive enough that it could easily drift vaguely into anonymity if it weren’t for the Kia grille and those aforementioned (and unfairly mildly derided) Stinger hints that have been scattered across it that bring it a welcome hint of character.