The upcoming KIA Seltos will feature 6-airbags as standard. KIA will also offer an iMT gearbox for diesel engines. Read all the details in our story below.
2022 KIA Seltos facelift is around the edge for launch. The new mid-size SUV from Korean car maker KIA shall feature 6-airbags as standard safety across all the variants. The new updated car is also expected to offer a new iMT gearbox option for the diesel variants.
Recently KIA has discontinued the base-spec version of their luxury MPV Carnival. The same discontinuation is expected to follow for the base diesel variant of the upcoming KIA Seltos. This discontinuation shall further pave way for the iMT transmission option in the diesel engine.
2022 KIA Seltos 6 Airbags
As it has been already made clear by the Union Transport & Highway Ministry that a standard 6-airbag rule will soon be implemented for all the car manufacturers; KIA seems to be preparing for this rule with the new updated Seltos.
According to the sources over the internet, KIA will offer 6-airbags as a standard safety feature in the upcoming mid-size SUV. There are mainly two reasons for this; one is the upcoming mandatory rule from the government of India to increase the passenger safety in cars and the second is KIAs efforts to correct the image of Seltos which was crushed to some extent due to its average performance in the G-NCAP crash tests.
The current generation KIA Seltos scored a 3-star crash test rating which led to confusion among the buyers looking for a safe mid-size SUV in the segment. The upcoming car shall feature the 6-airbags as standard thus making it safer option among buyers.
2022 KIA Seltos iMT Diesel Auto
The growing demand for automatic transmission in the Indian automotive market has been an opportunity for carmakers. Various companies have shifted their portfolio towards the ease of driving automatic gearboxes among their product lineup.
After witnessing the success of the iMT automatic gearbox in their C-SUV Sonet, KIA will now be offering the iMT gearbox option for the diesel variants of the upcoming 2022 KIA Seltos facelift as well. Sources over the internet have suggested that KIA has already told their dealers to not accept the bookings for the HTK variants which were previously offering the torque converter automatic gearbox option for the Seltos.
The discontinuation of current diesel automatic HTK variants will mark down the way for a cheaper iMT automatic diesel variant for customers. This will help KIA keep the prices low as well as offer automatic to budget-oriented customers as well.
With the launch of the iMT automatic gearbox for the HTK variant, the upcoming KIA Seltos buyers looking for a torque converter automatic option in diesel shall only be left with the option of GT variants; which will bear a handsome amount of price difference as compared to the HTK variants.
The refined choice of iMT automatic will give the buyers the convenience of an automatic gearbox as well as the thrill of shifting gears thus making the user feel connected to the car as well.
Also Read - New Mahindra XUV300 Facelift - 5 Things That We Know So Far!
2022 KIA Seltos Price & Launch
The upcoming KIA Seltos facelift will offer the same mechanical and technical specifications as that of the current model. This means it'll continue using the choices of 1.5 Lt naturally aspirated petrol, 1.5-Lt turbo-diesel & 1.4-Lt turbo-petrol engine options.
The main changes will be in terms of cosmetics only. We expect the new car to launch by the end of the year 2022. The expected price range will remain between Rs 10-19 Lakhs; as a slight bump in price is anticipated from the current model. Rivals of KIA Seltos will include the likes of Hyundai Creta, Tata Harrier.
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