All-new Kia Seltos SUV Officially Launched in Nepal; Price Starts at 49.90 Lakhs

South Korean auto major Kia Motors’s first ‘Made in India’ car, SUV Seltos, has finally launched in Nepal. The SUV had arrived a few days ago in the showroom. The bookings of KIA Selto were started from September and later on Continental Trading Enterprises, the sole authorized distributor of KIA cars in Nepal, had also revealed the pricings  and lineups. The company claimed that it has received 200+ bookings for Seltos.

The company has brought five variants of Seltos in Nepal; HTK, HTK+, HTK+ AT, HTX and HTX+. As for the pricing, Kia Seltos HTK price in Nepal starts at Rs. 49,90,000 for the HTK Petrol variant and goes upto Rs. 66,90,000 for the HTX+ Petrol variant. Besides, the company has also promised bring the GT Line (higher variants) in Nepal by April 2020.

“Tata Harrier was revolutionary!”

I know I’ve said that far too many times. Since it was kind of revolutionary, every other auto brand like Hyundai (with Hyundai Venue) was following in its footsteps.

However, Kia takes a drastic 180-degree turn, completely ignoring Harrier, bringing the all-new design to the “premium SUV’ market. Interestingly, the overall design is very different in comparison with its own Kia Sportage.

Honestly, the overall SUV styling takes aspirations from Kia’s concept car (Kia Signature and Kia SP Concept) along with Jeep and Land Rover. But it comes with its own unique twist to set it apart.

Kia Seltos Overview

Kia Seltos is a yet another compact SUV, in a market dominated by SUVs. Talking about the engine, it is powered by 1.5L Turbo Petrol Engine and a 1.5L Turbo Diesel Engine. As for the performance numbers, it will depend on the specific variant. Moreover, the base variant generates a max power of 115PS and max torque of 144Nm. While the top variant can generate a max power of 140PS and max torque of 242Nm.

Overall, you will get to choose from three automatic gearboxes, depending on the region: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), six-speed auto, and seven-speed with dual-clutch auto. Although, you will likely get the one with the CVT transmission in Nepal.

Talking about the overall design, the entire SUV looks just awesome! The LED lights, the square-shaped design, alloy wheels, everything is so familiar, yet so different.

Kia Seltos will be available in eight different color variations: Intense Red, Punchy Orange, Clear White, Glacier White, Steel Silver, Gravity Grey, Aurora Black Pearl, and Blue.

Kia Seltos Features

As you might expect, Kia Seltos comes with plenty on offer. You will get full-LED headlights, taillights, and fog lights setup. Plus, with the “tiger nose” grille and silver skid plates, it just sets it apart from the rest.

Inside, you will get Drive Mode Select (Normal, Eco, and Sports) which is somewhat a normal feature in Kia Seltos. Likewise, you will get a massive 10.25-inch touchscreen along with the 360-degree camera and eight-speaker sound system. Moreover, you do get a Sound Mood Lighting system (Six Themes and Eight Colors) which is a segment-first feature. You will see the 3D-patterned surface and the light pulses are illuminated and synchronized with the beat of the music on a section door card.

Basically, the Sound Mood Lighting system allows you to change the interior lighting based on the music or your mood. This is a rare feature only seen on premium Mercedes, Audi, and BMW vehicles.

And yes, Kia Seltos is stated to compete against Nissan Kicks, Hyundai Creta, Tata Harrier, Jeep Compass, and MG Hector. Anyways, it will be interesting to see how each brand will compete since each has something different to offer in this segment.

Plus, Kia Seltos definitely offers to the premium SUV segment all the while looking premium at the same time.

Kia Seltos: My Thoughts

I believe that the hype around the Kia Seltos will only grow as we see it more and more on the roads of Nepal. Anyway, Kia Nepal now has two SUVs in its lineup: Kia Sportage and Seltos. Now, we can expect more from the company in terms of offerings.

On a side note, the continued SUVs launches seem stagnant. Furthermore, every SUV was similar to one another, bringing nothing new to the table. However, with Seltos, KIA is offering something different… Let’s agree that things have gotten spicy and fun lately.

Since this type of friendly competition only pushes innovations for us. In the end, we will be the ones to benefit! So, I’m here just enjoying everything with my bucket of popcorn screaming, “Let them fight!”

That’s about it for now. We’ll report more after we test ride the KIA Seltos. Until then, keep visiting TechLekh.