October 30, 2024

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Kia Motors on July 18 added the all-new sport utility vehicle Seltos to its lineup.

The Seltos went on sale in South Korea before being shipped to India, China and other global markets. Last month, Kia unveiled the entry SUV model in India. 

“The Seltos is unrivaled in terms of design and performance. It will be a game changer in the highly competitive compact SUV market,” Kia Executive Vice President Kwon Hyug-ho said in the statement.

Kia has strengthened its SUV lineup with competitive models to take advantage of rising demand for recreational vehicles. Kia’s SUV lineup is composed of the flagship Mohave, midsize Sorento, compact Sportage, subcompact Stonic, Soul boxcar and Niro hybrid models.

The Telluride is sold only in North American markets. It is produced in Kia’s US plant and was launched last year.

The Seltos, developed under the project name “SP2,” comes in two versions -- one with a 1.6-liter turbo gasoline engine and a fuel efficiency of 13 kilometers per liter and the other with a 1.6 diesel engine.

Both engines are equipped with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. The dual clutch gearbox is quicker in terms of response when driven hard compared to a continuously variable transmission gearbox.

The Seltos is the first Kia vehicle that comes with a Bose sound system and boasts of dozens of safety features such as forward collision-avoidance assist, rear cross-traffic collision-avoidance assist, safe exit assist and driver attention warning systems, the statement said.

It sells at a starting price of 19 million won ($16,000), and the price tag goes up to 26 million won depending on options.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)