Everything we know so far about the 2025 Kia Seltos hybrid: New small SUV likely to be revealed next year as a sharp looking Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and Haval Jolion rival

There have been rumours since the Kia Seltos small SUV’s launch about a hybrid powertrain. 

At the facelift’s release in November 2022, we were told to expect a hybrid in the next-generation car, which could be approaching quite quickly. 

The Seltos is due for replacement either next year or by 2026, following Kia’s typical six to seven year product cycles.

A new model is likely to be closely related to the current Hyundai Kona offered in combustion and hybrid guises.

With speculation around Kia’s popular small SUV heating up, we take a look at everything you need to know about the new model. 

2025 Kia Seltos engines 

Boring stuff out of the way first: the Seltos is likely to continue with a version of the 2.0-litre petrol engine in Australia providing it fits under impending New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES). 

Kia’s 1.6-litre turbo-petrol is a sportier offering currently found in the Seltos all-wheel drive, though with no major benefit for fuel efficiency. It may stay on as a GT-Line flagship in the next-gen car paired with all-wheel drive. 

The real news is the anticipated hybrid powertrain. Kia has a pretty established package combining a 1.6-litre petrol engine with a 32kW/170Nm electric motor. It’s used in Kia’s Sportage and Sorento hybrids at the moment. 

Its most relevant use to the Seltos is in the Hyundai Kona, where the hybrid enables an ADR combined and urban fuel consumption figure of 3.9L/100km while delivering 104kW and 265Nm to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission.

In smaller models the hybrid set-up is front-wheel-drive only, which could pose an issue for the Seltos in Europe, according to other reports as cold climate markets are looking for greater grip in slippery conditions. 

A hybrid all-wheel-drive system could give the Seltos a unique selling point next to the related Hyundai Kona, as well as a true rival for the Nissan Qashqai e-Power and Toyota Corolla Cross. 

2025 Kia Seltos design

Spy pictures of the new Kia Seltos are not widely available so we’ve commissioned this render image using Kia’s latest design language to imagine the next-gen model. 

Taking the silhouette of the EV3 electric SUV gives the second-gen Seltos a sleeker fastback look while retaining a slim ‘Tiger Nose’ grille and fresh LED headlights not unlike the brand’s latest K4 combustion-engined Cerato replacement. 

That car also lends some of the Seltos render's lower bumper’s features, including the prominent intakes on either side of the lower grille. The same lower bumper garnish as the current Seltos gives this vehicle a tougher look than your average hatch. 

Down the side, the Seltos moves to hidden handles for the front doors with the rear pulls slickly integrated into the C-Pillar. 

The interior is trickier to imagine, however an upright, more airy design with Kia’s latest software and a pair of large 12.3-inch multimedia screens is very likely. An electric version is off the cards with the Kia EV3 set to do the heavy lifting for affordable small EVs — likely leaving the Niro high and dry. 

How much will the 2025 Kia Seltos cost?

Very rarely does a new model come to market costing less than its predecessor. In the case of Seltos, if Kia decides to retain a basic 2.0-litre entry model expect a lift over the $29,780 before on-road costs price. 

If Kia wants to stay competitive with fresh Chinese faces, though, a starting number less than $33,000 will be crucial. 

For the hybrid, looking at current models such as the Sportage could give an indication. The petrol-electric powertrain costs an extra $8500 over the base model in Sportage. 

It’s probably more realistic to look at Hyundai’s Kona, where going hybrid adds a more modest $4000 premium over the basic 2.0-litre model. We hope that’s closer to the truth for the new Seltos to stay competitive. 

If the NVES rules out the base 2.0-litre model, it could significantly increase the starting price of Seltos, too.

2025 Kia Seltos release date

All signs point to a reveal in the second half of 2025, with Korean newspaper ETNews reporting that production of the second-gen Seltos will start in mid-2025. 

Kia Australia is staying quiet on the subject and a new generation of Seltos is yet to be confirmed globally.

The production schedule reported by ETNews puts a potential Australian arrival on the cards for early 2026.