A major competition between Hyundai Creta and the new Kia Seltos is unfolding. The new Seltos is manufactured in India. Kia Motors India, the local arm of the Korean carmaker, sees sister brand Hyundai as a competitor in the country, at least in the near to short term.
In the long term, though, it has ambitions to take a large pie in India’s passenger vehicle market together with Hyundai, the company’s managing director and chief executive officer, Kookhyun Shim, said Thursday.
Speaking with Business Standard, Shim said: “We have very little production-related synergies with Hyundai as of now. We are competitors. But we want to grow together in this market in the long term,” said Shim.
Kia Motors is minority owned by Hyundai, which holds a 33.88 per cent in the company. Kia, in turn, is a minority owner of more than twenty Hyundai subsidiaries ranging from 4.9 per cent to 45.37 per cent. Globally, the two have been leveraging each others’ technology, product platforms and production facilities.
On Thursday, Kia entered the competitive mid-size SUV segment in the country with Seltos. Kia has pitted the Seltos against the Hyundai Creta, Renault Captur, Nissan Kicks and MG Hector.
The company claims it has received bookings of over 32,000 units in a month’s time. Available in both petrol and diesel with manual and automatic transmissions, the Seltos is BSVI compliant and boasts of as many as 16 variants.
Locally manufactured at the Anantapur plant in Andhra Pradesh, bookings for the Kia Seltos has already commenced and as the company claims, every fifth booking for the SUV comes online. Around 5,000 units of the car are being produced currently at the plant, claimed the automaker.
The SUV was first showcased at the 2018 Delhi Auto Expo alongside other models from the brand.
The Seltos comes with Kia’s signature Tiger nose grille flanked by sleek projector headlamps with heart-shaped LED daytime running lights integrated. Also, a sculpted front bumper, diamond-cut alloy wheels, sleek LED taillights are there.
The automaker claims that Kia Seltos has a class-leading 433-litre space inside the cabin combined with a wide range of premium features and tech. Available in two different variants, Tech Line and GT Line, the Kia Seltos gets a black and beige theme inside the cabin.
The Seltos also gets a 10.25-inch HD touchscreen infotainment system with navigation, 7 colour odometer display, a smart head-up display, 8-speaker Bose audio system along with mood lighting. It gets 8-way power-adjustable driver seat.
The UVO app comes offering several connectivity options for the car including Stolen Vehicle Tracking (STV) and other telematics features. It gets an in-cabin air filter, while the safety features include six airbags, iso-fix child anchor, vehicle stability management, electronic stability control, front and rear parking sensors, anti-lock brake system, brake-force assist system and hill-start assist control.
Kia Seltos is available with a 1.4-litre T GDI petrol, 1.5-litre petrol and a 1.5-litre VGT diesel engine. Transmission options include a 6-speed manual gearbox, a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission and a 6-speed advanced automatic transmission.
The 1.4 GDI petrol engine is available with a 6-speed MT and 7-speed DCT and it churns out 140 PS of power and 242 Nm torque. The 1.5 petrol unit belts out 115 PS of power and 144 Nm and it is available with 6-speed MT and smart stream IVT.
The 1.5 VGT diesel engine, it churns out 115 PS power and 250 Nm. This engine is available with 6-speed MT and 6-Speed advance AT options.
