The bold Kia Seltos was officially presented to the world back in June and an undisguised prototype was recently scooped testing in the United States by a reader of the Koreancarblog.
The Seltos was unveiled at a special event in Delhi, India, as production of the SUV will take place in India and Korea as these are two markets are where the car is expected to sell well. Kia has yet to say whether the Seltos will be sold in the United States making this recent spot of a prototype all the more intriguing.
Filmed from the dashcam of a motorist driving along a canyon road in California, we can see the Seltos (albeit in low resolution) with nothing hiding its design and without a visible front license plate. So just what is Kia up to?
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One possibility is that it is simply testing the Seltos in the United States despite having no intention of selling it locally. However, we suspect that it is preparing the Seltos for a launch in the United States as just prior to the SUV’s unveiling, a Kia spokesperson did say the company was studying the Seltos very closely for the U.S. market.
If the Seltos is sold in the United States, it could arrive with a different moniker as Kia hasn’t trademarked the Seltos name locally. It is believed that the name ‘Tusker’ is a possibility.
Kia has confirmed that it will sell the Seltos will two petrol engines and a diesel depending on the market. The petrol engines consist of a 1.6-liter turbo delivering 175 hp and a 2.0-liter naturally-aspirated model with 147 hp. The diesel will take the form of a 1.6-liter unit with 134 hp.