Kia Motors has marked its long-anticipated entry to the Indian
market with the launch of the Kia Seltos SUV. At a recently concluded event in New Delhi
Kia unveiled the Seltos SUV as its first offering for the Indian car market.
At the 2018 Auto Expo, New Delhi Kia presented a massive line up of their global
model range for the general public to see. Amongst these was the Kia SP2i mid-sized
SUV concept – the Seltos is based on this concept. Expected to take on
the likes of the Tata Harrier amongst others; let us have a look at what
the Seltos has to offer.
When you look at the
Seltos the first time, you will be mesmerized by the beautiful design of
this modern SUV. The design language of the Seltos is unlike anything we
have seen before in the Indian market. Starting at the bulky front end which is
dominated by Kia’s signature ‘Tiger Nose’ grille. This gives the car a great
road presence. The grille is flanked by intricately designed LED headlamp
clusters along with DRLs (Daytime Running Lights). Kia has given great
attention to the detailing, with very elegant looking ‘Ice Cube’ fog lamps at
the lower end of the front bumper. The overall front design of the Seltos
not only distinguishes the car from others in the market, but it also gives the car
a great stance and road presence. Moving along the sides the Seltos gets
squared-off wheel arches and a strong shoulder line which merges well with the
rear end of the car. The rear of the Seltos is smartly designed with a
good dash of chrome and good-looking tail lamps which are sophisticated and
modern. Kia has not yet disclosed the technical specifications, however, the Seltos
looks bigger than the Hyundai Creta. Kia has hit the sweet spot with
respect to the size, the Seltos is neither too large nor too small. This
is something that will surely excite car buyers looking to buy a new mid-sized
SUV. Though official interior images of the Seltos are not revealed it
can be safe to say that the interior looks premium, modern and made of high-quality
materials. With the recent trend of connected car technology, expect the Kia Seltos
to come with all the bells and whistles we have come to expect from a car in
this segment. Kia has confirmed that the Seltos will be powered by 2
petrol engines – a 1.4 L T-GDI turbo-charged, 1.5 L and a 1.5 L diesel engine.
All these 3 engines will be BS-VI compliant. The Seltos will be packed
with a whole host of safety features such as – Hill Start Assist, ABS, Vehicle
Stability Management, Electronic Stability Control, rear parking sensors etc. A
great safety and practicality addition which the Seltos shares with its
Hyundai cousin the Venue is 3 buttons on the rear-view mirror. The
buttons are for contacting emergency services, calling the call centre and
sending out an emergency SOS in case of an emergency.
Kia will commence
sales operations later this year and has already set up a nation-wide network
of 265 consumer touchpoints across 160 dealers. The Korean brand wants to cover
every part of the country including the tier-IV cities. The Kia Seltos
is expected to be priced in the range of Rs.11-17 lakh (ex-showroom). The final
price of the Seltos will only be revealed at the time of launch i.e.
end-August 2019. Kia has begun its Indian journey very well with the Seltos.
It has not only made its mark on the industry but it has also got the car
buyers very very excited!
