Heading to South Africa? Freshened-up Kia Seltos revealed

Despite debuting the facelift Seltos in the United States at the end of last year, Kia has taken the wraps off of the version aimed at developing markets build in India rather than South Korea.

Sourced from the Anantapur Plant that produces the Seltos for the domestic as well as right-hand-drive for exports markets, the step-up model from the Sonet’s exterior revisions are almost identical to that of the Gwangju-made example, bar the location of the steering wheel.

What has changed

Premiering four years after its original world debut, the external revisions comprise a reworked Tiger Nose grille and front bumper, new LED headlights and LED daytime running diodes, updated fog lamps and new 18-inch dual-tone diamond-cut alloy wheels on top-spec models.

At the rear, Kia has made the most prominent change by not only redesigning the light clusters, but connecting both by a LED light bar running the width of the tailgate below the window.

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New exhaust outlets, a faux satin silver diffuser, plus sealed mesh pattern vents on the flanks of the bumper completes the Seltos’ external transformation.

Inside

An area that attracted complaints upon the Seltos being evaluated in a number of markets, the interior has been improved with new switchgear and display for the climate control panel, the air vents restyled and the centre console subtly revised.

The biggest rework though is to the dashboard, now highlighted by a pair of 10.25-inch displays for the digital instrument cluster and infotainment system, the latter inclusive with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

It is worth noting though that the displays have only been included on higher-end derivatives, with those positioned lower having to make do with an eight-inch display and an analogue cluster with a 4.2-inch TFT central readout.

Same platform

In India, the Seltos range spans seven trim levels; HTE, HTK, HTK+, HTX, HTX+, GTX+ and X Line, all with front-wheel-drive and offering a boot space of 433-litres with the rear seats up.

Dimensions are unchanged, meaning the K2 platform underpinned Seltos measures 4 365 mm long, 1 800 mm wide and 1 645 mm tall while riding on a 2 610 mm long wheelbase.

New turbo-petrol

As for power, Kia has kept the powertrain options limited to three units; the normally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol that makes 84kW/144Nm and the 1.5-litre turbodiesel that punches out 85kW/250Nm.

A new addition though is the 1.5 T-GDI lifted from sister brand Hyundai’s revised Alcazar/Grand Creta that replaces the old 1.4 T-GDI. Rated outputs are 118kW/253Nm as opposed to 103kW/242Nm.

Transmission-wise, each engine offers a choice of two ways to select gears. On the free-breathing petrol, a six-speed manual comes standard with the option being the Intelligent Variable Transmission (IVT).

For the diesel, Kia has selected either its clutchless six-speed intelligent manual ‘box, or a six-speed torque converter automatic. The T-GDI meanwhile makes do with the same manual ‘box, or as an option, a seven-speed dual-clutch.

In total, the Seltos’ colour chart spans eight mono-tone hues and a pair of dual-tone finishes, plus a unique Matte Graphite option for the X-Line only.

Still to be confirmed

Open to bookings from 14 July with prices to be announced toon after, the facelift Seltos has so far not been confirmed for South Africa, however, expect an announcement confirming its availability to made in due course as a result of it being considered a key model for the local market.

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