Kia India's next offering to launch by early 2022, updated Seltos and Sonet next month

As part of its new brand unveil Kia Motors India, now renamed as Kia India, has confirmed that it will launch a new model in early 2022. There is still no confirmation as to what this model will be other than that it will be placed in a new market segment. Alongside this, Kia India will also launch the updated Kia Seltos and Kia Sonet in India in May 2021.

Upcoming Kia MPV 2022

We suspect the new Kia model to be a three-row MPV in six and seven-seater form that will be positioned above the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and XL6. It should share its underpinnings with the Seltos and come with a similar set of engines and features. This should include a 1.5-litre petrol, a 1.5-litre diesel as well as the 1.4-litre turbo-petrol. The same large 10.25-inch touchscreen, 360-degree cameras, sunroof and connected-car features should be seen here along with much of the smart space management from the Carnival.

The styling of the new Kia MPV should be a departure from that of its current offerings. The brand's repositioning has brought about an evolution in its design philosophy and some of the design cues from the recently revealed Kia EV6 should be seen here. 

2021 Kia Sonet changes

As for the updated Seltos and Sonet. Kia India has already shown that these will get the new logo. It is also expected that both SUVs will see significant additions to their feature lists to keep them competitive. The 2021 Kia Sonet is expected to see a revamped line-up with HTK Plus 1.0-litre turbo-petrol DCT variant and HTK Plus 1.5-litre diesel AT variants already discontinued. More features will be added to the HTK+, HTX, HTX+ nad GTX+ variants. These will include the ESC, drive modes, 16-inch diamond-cut all wheels, keyless entry and remote start to variants that don't come equipped with this currently. The two new feature additions on the top trims will be the Hello Kia AI voice commands and paddle shifter for the auto variants.

2021 Kia Seltos changes

The 2021 Kia Seltos will also see a similar variant rejig. The Seltos will get an iMT gearbox option now on the 1.5-litre petrol while many of the convenience and safety features from the top GT Line and Tech Line trims will trickle down to lower variants. These will include wireless phone mirroring on versions with the smaller 8-inch touchscreen, electronic stability control (ESC), hill-start assist control (HAC), vehicle stability management (VSM), brake assist (BA), sunroof, Hello Kia Voice commands, sunroof and climate control. The AI-based voice commands and paddle shifters have made their way here too. The HTX+ version is now expected to get brown and black leatherette seats with honeycomb pattern while the GTX(O) variant should get beige and black leatherette sports seats with red stitching. It is unlikely that the rumoured panoramic sunroof comes to the Seltos.

Expect the mid-spec versions of both the Sonet and Seltos to see their prices go up to account for these additions. Alongside, Kia India is also expanding its footprint in India. The carmaker will have 350 touchpoints in the country across 200 cities by the end of the year. A third shift is also being started at its Anantpur facility to reduce delivery times. To know more about Kia's new logo and its repositioning, read here. Notably, India is only the second market after South Korea to get the new Kia logo.