Kia’s next Seltos rolls into Australia late in 2026, but the real story is not the lights, the bigger body, or the hybrid-only line-up. It is price. Get it wrong, and Kia’s famous place in the market evaporates. Or should I say, becomes even more irrelevant. The market has gone somewhat psychotic since this model started development, and like the larger Kias, the little Seltos risks the kind of ostracism that has slowly eroded legacy dominance.
The bosses of both Honda and Toyota have expressed concern that they can’t compete with Chinese rivals and the vertical integration that lets slim margins outclass almost every other carmaker on the planet. Two of those brands make their own batteries while legacy brands continue to buy what they need from third parties. But the sales chart tells the sadder story for comfortable old Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai. Kia has jumped Hyundai, sits close enough to Mazda to make Mazda sweat blood, and Chinese brands now take places that once belonged to familiar names. Holden has gone. Ford does not dominate. The old order shudders harder with each passing month’s report.
Let’s take RAV4 as the warning. Toyota pushed a rather dreary mainstream family SUV into money where a Tesla Model Y and several BYD options look like better buys. Would any sane buyer seriously choose a RAV4 over a Tesla, even if that buyer did not want an EV? No, not a chance. Toyota is deluding itself, but even if dependable still counts, it no longer excuses a bloated price. Savvy buyers can get more power, nicer cabins, more equipment, and plug-in hybrid or EV options for similar money.
That is the trap lying in wait for Kia. Damien Merideth, Kia’s COO, once had a price strategy with a curated niche for each model. The cunning plan took Kia from a naff, tacky-plakky punchline to third in line for the throne. So, Seltos can be cleaner, sharper, roomier and hybrid-only, and still miss the moment if Kia prices Seltos like seventeenth-century tulips. We all know how that turned out, right?
Chinese brands have trained buyers to expect more car for less money, and the buyers are talking with their purses. Kia does have a stronger Seltos to sell, at least on paper. Every Australian Seltos uses hybrid power for Kia’s Euro 6d compliance. That gives the car a cleaner pitch even with a dinosaur burner under the bonnet. The problem is that hybrids are now two-a-penny. The windscreen number has to do the hard work.
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ABOVE: All-new Kia Seltos exterior, interior, cargo area, and hybrid details.
The design pulls Seltos into Kia’s square-shouldered family look, for better or for worse. EV9 started the theme, but Tasman’s gorgon head pushed it far too far, so Seltos tries to drag that snaked disaster back from the abyss. So Seltos gets its own version with star-map lighting, a wide grille, flush handles, a floating roof and a cleaner tail. The Tasman hint in the nose should sound worrying, but here it works. The proportions stop the blunt front from looking like a bus had backed into a Dial-a-Dump.
Like almost every model that survives into another generation, Kia Seltos has fattened up a bit. Length grows 45mm to 4,430mm, width rises 30mm to 1,830mm, and the wheelbase adds 60mm to reach 2,690mm. Height drops 30mm, so the car looks lower and less like a TAXIBOX. Boot space rises from 468L to 483L with a space-saver spare under the floor.
Only a few years ago, cheap Kias were still arguing the wisdom of multi-line radio readouts. The dash is now replete with glorious twin 12.3-inch screens, over-the-air software updates and a column-type shift-by-wire selector. Rear-seat passengers get 25mm more leg room, more head room in both rows, and a second row that reclines a graceful 24 degrees, split 12 degrees forward and 12 degrees back. Those are small numbers to be sure, but the competition is more capacious, and for the same money, some of it has a plug.
Kia has not given final power and torque figures yet, so the oily bits still have blanks. Kia has confirmed the K3 platform, Smart Regenerative Braking System 3.0 and a local ride and handling tune for every Australian Seltos. Hoorah! That local work irons out the lounge cushions Korea usually puts wheels under. Drive the two settings back to back, and Graham Gambold’s tuning feels like Da Vinci on canvas by comparison.
Australian two-wheel-drive models skip V2L and get a space-saver spare instead. A spare wheel looks clever on the roadside, but it does rather suggest a larger battery option, as seen on PHEVs, can be had elsewhere.
Kia says the driver-assistance suite is bountiful, and it wants a dual four and five-star ANCAP result. Once, only a five-star gong would have done, but Kia now seems content with split ratings across a model range. That sounds like variant-dependent gobbledegook, and pricing day needs to spell out which grade gets which rating and which safety gear. The five-star opposition is parked just outside, remember.
The new Seltos looks better armed than before. It is more capacious, far more upmarket in the cabin and more in step with Kia’s current design language. None of that settles the value question. If Kia lands it at sensible hybrid money, Seltos has a chance. If it creeps toward RAV4 money, BYD, Chery, GWM and the rest will simply consign Seltos to history.
My concern is that Kia’s popularity pendulum may be at maximum swing.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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