Introduced to the Indian market in August, the Kia Seltos is quite an important model for the Korean brand – underlined by the fact that it is exported from India to markets in the Middle-East and South Africa; and that it is sold in North American and Australasian markets. The SUV for the Australian market, which is imported to the country from South Korea, has been awarded a 5-star safety rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).
All variants of Kia’s smallest SUV for the market come equipped with six airbags, ABS, an autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, emergency lane keeping and a tyre pressure monitoring system (TMPS). This equipment helped it score 85 percent for adult occupancy, 83 percent for child occupancy, 61 percent for Vulnerable Road User Protection and 70 percent for its safety assist features. An options pack adds features such as adaptive cruise control, a more advanced version of the AEB system, a blind spot monitor and a rear cross traffic alert system, all of which improve the Vulnerable Road User Protection and Safety Assist score by 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
While standard safety kit of the India-spec Kia Seltos does comprise six airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, traction control, hill-start assist, a 360-degree camera, TMPS and a blind spot monitor as standard. Meanwhile, the base trim comes with just two airbags, ABS with EBD and rear parking sensors as standard.
Still, even the base level of kit, along with the sturdy body structure (as certified by ANCAP) should help it achieve a comparable score on Global NCAP’s crash tests, which are conducted with different parameters in mind.
The Kia Seltos for Australia also differs from the India-spec SUV in terms of its powertrain options. While the India-spec Seltos has three engine options (two petrols and one diesel); in Australia, the SUV is available with either a 150hp, 2.0-litre petrol engine or a 177hp, 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine.