All-electric SUV Kia Seltos bound for Asia

According to a Kia blog, Kia is planning a purely electric version of its Seltos compact SUV exclusively for the Asian markets. The electric Seltos, which will be developed under the code name SP2 EV, will be based on well-known technology.

+ + Kindly see our update below + +

According to the Kia blog theKEEA, the Seltos EV will be equipped with the proven group drive with 150 kW output and 64 kWh battery and will be produced in South Korea from August 2020. Less than 10,000 units of the Seltos EV are planned for the first year, and the number is expected to increase significantly afterwards. While the eSUV will initially only be offered in South Korea, India and China could well be the next markets to follow.

The basic Seltos with a fossil-fuelled engine was presented in the summer of 2019 and the first Kia model to be marketed in India – where Kia is said to have received 60,000 reservations for the SUV. The vehicles for the local market are manufactured in Anantapur, the models for the South Korean market in Gwangju. A version for the North American market was presented at the LA Auto Show in November, but it will not go on sale until spring.

However, according to information from theKEEA, which has not named its sources, the electric version is supposed to be exclusively for the Asian market, not for North America or Europe. This is understandable since Kia would only compete with itself by exporting to Europe anyway, because with a length of 4.31-4.37 metres, depending on the version, it is in the same class as the Kia e-Niro available in this country (also with the 64-kWh battery).

According to the report, the Seltos EV will only be produced only in South Korea for the time being. However, the information on sales of the Seltos EV in India and China should be treated with caution, as this is speculation: India is “likely to be next in line given the success of the gas-powered version there” and “Since China is demanding that automakers create more electric models, it would seem like an obvious place for the Seltos to land.”

All of this, hypothetically means that the electric offshoots in India would be imported vehicles, whereas the fossil-fuelled versions would be locally produced.

Update Monday, 22 June 2020: The rumour that has been circulating for a few months now seems to be true: that Kia is planning a purely electric version of its compact SUV Seltos for Asian markets. The Kia Seltos EV can now be found for the first time in one of the manufacturer’s documents. Here it states that the launch of the Kia electric vehicle is planned for the second half of 2020 in China. As the Indianautoblog writes, the Seltos EV is also currently only planned for the Chinese market, possibly it will be marketed there as the KX3 EV.

This is different to the above-mentioned information gleaned from theKEEA saying that after the market launch in South Korea, India and China should follow: According to the current report, the Seltos EV will not be offered in India. There is also different information regarding the technical data: According to the report from theKEEA, the Seltos EV would take over the 150 kW drive known from the Kia e-Niro (and Hyundai Kona Elektro) with the 64 kWh battery. The Indiansautoblog now writes that it is possible that the Seltos will take over the e-drive train from the Hyundai Lafesta. The electric sedan offered in China has an output of 135 kW, the energy content of the battery is 56.5 kWh. At the same time, the K3 EV, Kia already has an SUV with exactly this drive on the Chinese market and there still isn’t a Kia counterpart to the Kona Elektro, which is sold in China as Encino EV.

thekeea.com, indianautosblog.com (update)