Five reasons why the Kia Seltos will be a hit

Kia remains one of the few mainstream brands to grow in popularity this year, on the back of strong value, generous after-sales provisions and a solid range of models that look as good as they perform.

Now the Korean brand has added its first small SUV, the 2019 Kia Seltos and here’s why we reckon it will become a hit in the growing small SUV class and perhaps even Kia’s new best-seller.

When the Kia Seltos launches in Australia from around October 2019, it will claim almost half-a-dozen first-in-class features, foremost of which is a big 10.2-inch touch-screen infotainment display.

Expected to be standard on most model grades in Australia, the system can also pair two smartphones at once, which allows occupants to use Google Maps while also streaming from Spotify.

Other class-leading tech include an 8.0-inch head-up display and eight-speaker Bose stereo with pulsating multicolour LED mood lights on the fractal-design door speakers.

Measuring 4370mm long and 1800mm, the Kia Seltos is very much pushing the boundaries of the small SUV segment – not unlike the Nissan QASHQAI and Mitsubishi ASX.

Kia says it has most of its rivals beat in terms of interior space. Lump in a big 498-litre boot (bigger than a homegrown Holden Commodore’s) and the Seltos trumps all its competitors for cabin and cargo room.

The small SUV market segment is one of the fastest growing new-vehicle categories globally and in Australia. Yet Kia's presence has been conspicuously absent.

This will change when the new Kia Seltos launches in a segment that has grown from 10.5 per cent to 11 per cent of the entire market this year, and is tipped to grow from 6.5 million sales globally in 2018 to 8.2 million by 2020.

Kia has slowly climbed the Australian sales ladder in the last 10 years and is one of the few brands to offer a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.

Along with capped-price servicing and a sticker priced expected to start at around the mid-$20,000 mark, the Kia Seltos is going to offer a strong value proposition and will plug a hole in the brand's range that will give it even more sales momentum.

Even without a ute and a small SUV in its arsenal, Kia is the only top 10 car brand in Australia that's grown its market share in 2019.

The new Kia Seltos is tipped to be offered with all the mod-cons – even on entry-level vehicles as standard across the range.

As well as its spunky new design and alloy wheels, there’s a reversing camera, autonomous emergency braking, six airbags and possibly even a lane-keeping assistant.

Also standard at base level will be a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (110kW/180Nm) hooked up to a CVT, while upstream versions will offer a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol (130kW/265Nm) with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Indeed, it appears the Kia Seltos has all bases covered.