Kia to ramp up Seltos output to meet high global demand

Kia Corp. will expand production of its compact sport utility vehicle, the Seltos, after selling 310,000 units of the model across the globe, making it the South Korean carmaker’s second best-selling car last year.

According to the Korean auto industry on Thursday, the sibling of Korea’s largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Co., and its labor union have agreed to produce the next-generation Seltos at its plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

It currently churns out the compact SUV model from another local plant in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province. Last year, Kia produced 159,965 units of the Seltos after the release of the new generation model. 

Plant II in Hwaseong now manufactures Kia’s Niro hybrid and electric vehicles.

Kia will start producing the Seltos in both plants with the fully revamped third-generation Seltos, which will hit the market in January next year, according to sources.

The output ramp-up decision comes after the Seltos became Kia’s second best-selling car worldwide in 2024, indicating that Kia anticipates a further rise in global demand for the Seltos this year.

The Seltos sold 310,000 units across the world, including Korea, in 2024, marking the second-biggest shipments among Kia cars after the company’s best-selling model, the Sportage, which sold 580,000 units.

Of total global shipments of the Seltos, about 250,000 units were sold overseas, especially in emerging markets like India and Europe.

MORE HYBRID DEMAND THAN EV

Amid a prolonged slump in the global electric vehicle market, expectations are high that the hybrid vehicle market will continue expanding, another reason for Kia’s decision to bump up the Seltos production.

The upcoming third-generation Seltos, the first full model change since 2019, will come in several trims, including the model’s first-ever hybrid variant.

Kia currently offers hybrid variants of the Niro, the Sportage, the Sorento and the Carnival.

With the addition of the Seltos hybrid, Hyundai Motor Group, the parent of Hyundai Motor and Kia, will have a broader hybrid lineup extending from compact to full-size models following the arrival of the all-new Palisade with a hybrid powertrain.

In January, Kia reported its record-high annual sales revenue of 107.45 trillion won ($75 billion), up 7.7% from a year ago, for 2024, driven by brisk sales of pricey SUVs and hybrid models.

The automaker said it posted annual sales of more than 100 trillion won for the first time since its founding in 1962.

It sold 3.09 million vehicles globally in 2024, up 0.1% from the previous year.

In foreign markets, Kia sold 2.54 million units, up 1.0% over the same period.

Despite waning EV demand, the Korean carmaker, however, stays firm on its EV ambition to beef up its annual EV sales to 1.6 million units by 2030, which would account for 37% of its total car sales volume, versus 200,000 units in 2024.

To bolster its EV sales, the company in 2023 unveiled a plan to add a new low-cost EV lineup, ranging from the EV1 and EV2 to the EV3 and EV4.

Write to Gil-Sung Yang at vertigo@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.