New Kia Sportage Coming Soon: Specs, price and release info

The Sportage is not only Kia’s best-seller, but also Britain’s favourite SUV and one of the most popular cars in the UK overall. Now, Kia is refreshing the Sportage with a new look and even more tech while continuing to offer a range of petrol and hybrid fuel types. With plenty of space for the whole family and the peace of mind offered by Kia’s seven-year warranty, it’s easy to see why the Sportage has been so popular, as Rory Reid discovered recently. This facelift brings the Sportage's design line with Kia’s latest models like the all-electric EV3 and the upcoming EV4 and EV5.
• The Sportage is a mid-size SUV sitting between the Niro and Sorento in Kia’s line-up. The EV5 will be the Sportage’s electric equivalent when it arrives shortly • This update gives the Sportage new headlight clusters and interior updates along with some extra tech • There’ll be a choice of petrol and hybrid engines at launch • Due to arrive later this year • Expected to start at just over £30,000

The Sportage is the latest model in Kia’s range to get its ‘Opposites United’ signature look pairing the tiger nose grille with thin geometric lines of LEDs at the front. Kia calls the resulting constellation of lights a ‘Star Map’. The design was first introduced on Kia’s EV9 and has since been applied to the EV3 and the undated Picanto. At the back its business as usual for the Sportage, but Kia has introduced some new wheel designs to give the rest of the car a lift.

There are more obvious changes inside with a new two-spoke steering wheel, new seat upholstery made using an increased quantity of recycled polyester, and more tech. The Sportage will now feature Kia’s latest infotainment displayed across two curved 12.3-inch screens and an additional 10-inch head-up display, which can be regularly updated over-the-air. The Sportage also gains wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though we are surprised it didn’t have this feature already. As before, the Sportage will come with a range of driver assistance systems and higher trim levels will gain other features such as wireless phone charging, 360-degree cameras and a Harman Kardon sound system.

At launch the updates Sportage will have petrol or hybrid options. There’ll be a 1.6-litre 150 horsepower petrol engine available as a manual or automatic. Alternatively, the same engine is combined with a hybrid system to provide 239 horsepower. This will be an automatic with either front- or all-wheel drive.

The new Sportage is expected to arrive later this year, and UK prices will be confirmed closer to the time. However, the current model starts at around £30,000 so we expect the updated version will be in the same ballpark.

Kia has recently been showing its European peers a thing or two about how to build electric cars, and it has even more up its sleeve. These include the EV4 which will be available as either a hatchback or saloon, and the family-size EV5 SUV. We are also expecting the EV2, a smaller Citroen e-C3 rival, to join the line-up soon.

There’s no shortage of other mid-size family SUVs available. The Hyundai Tucson is the closest rival to the Sportage with other popular options including the Nissan Qashqai and Peugeot 3008. Renault’s newly updated Austral will also arrive shortly, in addition to more premium choices like the BMW X1.