Launched in 2019, the Seltos has proven to be one of Kia best global sellers, especially in Mexico and India – the latter where the car will continue to be built.
While it has also been sold in markets including North America, Australia and South Africa, it was never offered in Europe or the UK due to it not meeting the EU’s stringent (and costly) safety and emissions regulations.
CEO Ho Sung Song said the Seltos is “one of Kia’s most strategically important cars globally, like the Sportage” – that car being its global best-seller with more than half a million sales in 2025 alone.
Song added that it is because of the Sportage’s success – especially in the UK – that the Seltos will be offered here. “Because we are selling more than 150,000 units of the Sportage per year in the European market, we feel that we have a lot of opportunity to introduce Seltos,” he said, adding that the brand is targeting around 60,000 Seltos sales per year in Europe.
Asked if there was a worry about cannibalising those Sportage sales, or that of the Niro, given the three cars are a similar size, Song said: “Actually, the Niro is developed really for fuel efficiency, and we focus the Niro with hybrid options. In the meantime, [while] the Seltos hybrid will have a similar powertrain of Niro, these customers will be looking for a real SUV product [instead]. So, my opinion is it will have a little different target group for Seltos.
