With launches such as Ceed premium hatchback and Grand Carnival MPV lined up for India, Kia will soon mark entry into the Indian market with the launch of their first car later in 2019. This new vehicle from the brand partly owned by Hyundai will actually be the production version of Kia SP Concept. Now the company has released a few sketches that give a fair indication as to what the upcoming SUV from the brand will look like. The sketches reveal that at the front of the upcoming SUV one can see a Tiger Nose inspired grille. The overall stance and looks of the upcoming SUV are pretty wide, which is sure to earn it a huge street presence on the roads. Moving on to the rear, one can almost mistake the SP2i for an Audi vehicle if one misses the badge. Kia had also presented the SP Concept at the Auto Expo last year and only time will tell as to how much of the design elements of the Concept or even the sketches for that matter makes it to the final production version of the upcoming SUV.
Since Hyundai has part ownership of the Kia brand, the upcoming SUV will share its platform with the upcoming next-generation Hyundai Creta that has already been unveiled by the brand in China. This means that the brand will save a lot on the manufacture of the SUV as it will be able to source a lot of parts locally and will also be able to share parts with the Creta in India. Apart from the platform there are not a lot of similarities between the upcoming Kia SUV and Creta.
As far as the under the hood department is concerned, there are chances Kia will fit their first car in India with a 1.4L turbocharged petrol engine rated to deliver around 140 Bhp. The second option could be a 1.5L petrol engine. As far as diesel is concerned, it could be a 1.5L turbocharged engine. The South Korean brand plans on launching one car every six months, and a more powerful version of their first vehicle is also on cards. The transmission duties may be handled by a 6 speed manual gearbox and a torque converter automatic gearbox. The South Korean company plans on making the SP2i SUV in its newly setup facility in Andhra Pradesh. There are chances that the upcoming production version of the SUV will be sold in India under the name of Tusker, however there is no confirmed news on this front as of now.
The upcoming Kia SUV will lock horns with cars such as Mahindra XUV500, Tata Harrier, Jeep Compass, and Hyundai Creta in the Indian market. Kia will also load the SP2i SUV with a lot of features so as to make this product very attractive in the already competitive mid-size SUV segment in the market. The features on the SUV may include electric sunroof, rain sensing wipers, touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, keyless entry and various ‘connected’ features. One can expect Kia to offer safety features such as six airbags, ABS, traction control, ESP, hill hold, reverse parking camera, cruise control, ISOFIX child seats and speed alerts on the SUV.
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