An all-new Kia crossover will be released later this year

Kia Motors Corporation released its sales figures for the first quarter of 2020, and things are looking good for the Korean brand. With a total of 648,685 vehicles sold from January to March, which is only a 1.9% drop from the sales at the same time last year. Given the circumstances, however, the company is looking to introduce a new product to drive consumer interest. 

The company released a statement saying, “To flexibly cope with the uncertain business environment, Kia Motors plans to enhance its product competitiveness with new model line-up. The company will focus its efforts on sales of SUVs, notably Telluride, Seltos, and recently launched all-new Sorento. Kia will introduce customer-centric marketing and promotion activities tailored to each market, reflecting shifting customer needs in the era of pandemic. The company also plans to introduce an all-new compact SUV to the Indian market in the third quarter to further boost sales momentum.” 

So what is this “all-new compact SUV?” The Seltos is plenty compact enough, but then the brand’s sister company does have another model that could share its bones with this new crossover SUV from the Kia brand. Known as a Venue in the Hyundai concept stable, the Kia version will be called the Sonet, if our guess is correct and it is the model that the South Korean brand is launching. Though there are also speculations of a 7-seater on the horizon based on some Indian websites that reported, though our bet is on the Sonet, as the brand has revealed that it will be launching the crossover later this year back in Auto Expo 2020 back in January. 

This new model could work for the Indian market, but will the Sonet do well in the Philippines? We already have the Seltos, but it is priced at over P1,000,000, which makes it unobtainable for some. If the Sonet were to come over and take on the role of the under-a-million crossover for the Kia brand, then that could be a recipe for success.