Starting at a price of under R390k, the SUV is taking a stand for all heritage brands.
The all-new Kia Seltos is going places.
Starting at a price of R389 995, the attractive SUV has sent out a clear message to Chinese manufacturers that heritage brands are not going to take the onslaught from People’s Republic lying down anymore.
The bulk of the second-generation Seltos’ model derivatives fall into the B-SUV segment, a space where the Chinese has been hurting heritage brands for many years through competitive pricing and feature-rich offerings.
Kia Seltos makes a Pitstop
On this week’s episode of The Citizen Motoring‘s Pitstop podcast, we discuss the arrival of the all-new Kia Seltos. And we predict the impact it will have on the densely populated segment.
The Indian-built SUV has grown in size, being 65mm longer than its predecessor. At 4 460mm, it is just 55mm shorter than the Kia Sportage and a full 350mm longer than its smaller sibling the Sonet. Boot space has grown by 103 litres to 536 litres, which is 89 litres more than the Sonet and 35 less than the Sportage.
The three powertrains from the first generation all made their way to the new model. These include a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine which produces 84kW and 144Nm of torque, a 119kW/253Nm 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol mill and 85kW/250Nm 1.5-litre blown diesel engine. They are mated to a combination of four transmission options; six-speed manual, CVT, seven-seed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) and six-speed torque-converter automatic.
Five model derivatives
The all-new Seltos range consists of five model derivatives; the entry-level LS, the LX, the GT-Line, GT-Line S and also the X-Line. The latter is exclusive to the flagship diesel model.
The top models have an important stop-gap role to play as the current Sportage is on run-out and the new model has also not arrived yet.
Standard across the range is a three-year/45 000km service plan and also a five-year/unlimited mileage warranty.
