Kia Seltos hybrid coming to take on electrified Corolla Cross, Kona

The Kia Seltos is one of a handful of vehicles in the small SUV segment that doesn’t offer any form of electrification – that’ll soon change.

At its 2025 Kia CEO Investor Day, the company confirmed it’s planning to “diversify its hybrid lineup across all segments” as it plans to effectively double its hybrid sales volumes by the end of the decade.

That will see Kia add a hybrid version of the next-generation Seltos, as well as its flagship combustion-powered Telluride – a cousin to the Hyundai Palisade which isn’t offered here.

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Kia didn’t confirm when these will launch, but Korean Car Blog previously reported in January that a new-generation Seltos is launching in January 2026, before the hybrid version enters production in August 2026.

The launch of the first hybrid Seltos is part of Kia’s plan to sell “nearly one million” hybrids annually by 2030 across all markets, up from a projected 490,000 hybrids during 2025.

It’s aiming for electrified vehicles – including hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs) – to account for 56 per cent of its total sales target or 2.33 million vehicles in total in 2030.

The next-generation Seltos has already been spied testing, showing it will feature a similarly boxy body to the current model but some design cues inspired by newer Kias such as rather EV5-like tail-lights.

Previous reports out of Korea have suggested the Seltos could differ from the Hyundai Kona in mating a hybrid system with an electronic all-wheel drive system.

The front-wheel drive-only Kona Hybrid combines a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine with a 32kW/172Nm electric motor, a 1.32kWh battery pack, and a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Total system outputs are 104kW and 265Nm.

It’s unclear where the Kia Niro fits into all of this, at least in Australia. A hybrid Seltos would overlap significantly with the Niro Hybrid, much as the new electric EV3 already overlaps with the Niro EV, so it appears the Niro will be discontinued altogether locally once the Seltos Hybrid arrives.

“[The electric] Niro’s price position, particularly now, comparing now to an EV3, it’s a little bit out of whack, so the hybrid is probably the one that still has some life in it yet,” said Kia Australia product planning manager Roland Rivero to Australian media earlier this year.

“Not everyone wants a medium-sized [SUV]. The size of the Niro might be more ideal for certain customers. So at least in the hybrid guise, there might still be a little bit of life in Niro yet in Australia.

“But from a global standpoint it’s still a big seller in Europe and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon [for that region].

“On the EV front, the EV3 has taken over the full electric front, but there could be something on the horizon that takes over the small hybrid SUV front, and therefore it may then deem the Niro is no longer necessary for our market.”

At a global level, the second-generation Niro is expected to undergo a mid-life facelift within the next 12 months, bringing it in line with Kia’s latest models with the brand’s new infotainment and safety technologies.

The current Seltos, meanwhile, isn’t offered in Europe, where Kia instead fields the Xceed, and it’s unclear if that will change with the next-generation model given the Ceed on which it’s based will be replaced by the K4 that also serves as the successor for the popular Cerato.

The Seltos first entered production in 2019 but has never offered hybrid power, despite the Hyundai Kona having offered a hybrid option across both its generations (if only for the current model in Australia) – the Seltos is based on the previous Kona’s K2 platform, whereas the new Kona rides on the newer K3 architecture shared with the Niro.

It’s offered exclusively in Australia with a choice of naturally aspirated 2.0-litre and turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engines.

Kia’s small SUV goes up against the likes of the aforementioned Kona, Nissan Qashqai, Toyota Corolla Cross and C-HR, Subaru Crosstrek, and Honda HR-V, all of which are available – or offered exclusively – with a hybrid powertrain in Australia.

Other rivals also offer mild-hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrains.

Likewise, Kia Australia now offers a hybrid version of the Sportage mid-size SUV (plus a plug-in hybrid overseas), as well as hybrid and plug-in hybrid Sorento large SUVs and a hybrid Carnival people mover.

MORE: Everything Kia Seltos