Despite the fact that this year has not been kind to the automotive industry, it hasn’t deterred manufacturers from launching new models. On top of which, brand new manufacturers have decided to enter the Indian market to compete shoulder-to-shoulder against established players in the most growing and competitive segment in India. The midsize, compact SUV space which has been dominated by the Hyundai Creta for quite some time, but this year itself saw Tata Motors launch the Harrier in January, followed by new entrants MG Motors introducing the Hector.
Now there is a new kid on the block as Kia Motors has finally arrived in India. Hyundai’s sister company, Kia will be launching its first product in India on August 22, 2019. The model is the Kia Seltos which is said to sit right between the fight of the Harrier, Creta and Hector. While we expect more launches to take place throughout the remainder of the year, Kia’s arrival is probably the one with the most amount of weight to it. So does the Kia Seltos compact SUV live up to the expectations or not, what does it have that works well, and what doesn’t is what we tried to find out as we sampled the Seltos on Indian roads for the first time on the streets of Goa.
Visually, the Kia Seltos looks mightly impressive on the inside and outside. Quality levels are quite admirable but when it comes to the new 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol with the DCT automatic and the manual 1.5-litre diesel engines are like… you’ll have to watch the video above to find out.
