2023 Kia Seltos breaks cover in Korea

A facelifted 2023 Kia Seltos has been revealed in Korea ahead of its mid-July reveal at the Busan motor show.

Armed with refreshed exterior styling, a redesigned cabin and a significant technology upgrade, the upgraded Kia Seltos will arrive in Australia in the closing stages of the year.

Revealed a day before the Australian launch of the all-new and similarly sized Kia Niro with hybrid and EV powertrains, the revised small SUV will inject an extra level of cohesion into the Korean brand’s local line-up alongside the new-gen Kia Sportage and latest Kia Sorento.

Full specification details of the updated model haven’t been made public yet and, from a local perspective, likely won’t be any time soon given how far away the Australian launch is, but there are a couple of key talking points we can cover now ahead next fortnight’s full reveal.

Starting with the exterior, the new Seltos has been treated to new bumpers, headlights, tail-lights, daytime running lights, grille and alloy wheel designs.

The biggest change is the rear lighting signature, which now stretches all the way across the tailgate – a cue replicated to some extent at the front by the new daytime running light design that strays onto the subtly tweaked tiger-nose grille.

This more elegant and sophisticated look is continued within the cabin by the dual-screen infotainment (10.25-inch) and digital instrument cluster (10.25-inch) set-up as seen on the Sportage and Kia EV6, not to mention the rotary gear selector.

Using the wider Kia SUV range as a yardstick, these new features will more than likely be reserved for the top-spec GT-Line trim, but the rest of the subtle tweaks around the cabin – primarily new buttons and switchgear – will feature on all grades.

The only confirmed engine at this stage (in Korea at least) is the familiar turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine developing an indicated 132kW/265Nm (+2kW) and paired exclusively to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Existing customers will be more than aware a 110kW/190Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder is also offered in Australia and we expect this to continue being the case when the new model arrives later in the year.

Said powerplant is mated to a continuously variable transmission and only drives the front wheels, while the 1.6-turbo drives all four wheels.

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