Kia Seltos vs SP Concept Comparison – What All Has Changed?

The Koreans are doing well around the world and are taking over the automobile world with a blow. The statement surely sounds too big a claim, but the Korean giants Hyundai and Kia have adopted the platform sharing fashion and fetched out products to cater to varied genres. Since Hyundai and Kia are sister brands to each other, and thus the platform sharing is no big issue for both. With the operations recently started in the country by Kia, it has launched its first car in the market. Yes, it is an SUV and called Seltos.

Kia Seltos was first showcased as Kia SP Concept (Kia SP2i) at the Auto Expo 2018, and is now launched as the very first product from the manufacturer.

The Seltos is based on Hyundai Creta's platform but is a different SUV altogether. Err, sorry for bringing in the Creta name here, as we are comparing how Kia has permuted the design of Seltos from its concept avatar. The Seltos started its life in the form of SP Concept, showcased to the masses for the first time at 2018 Auto Expo in New Delhi. Since now we have Seltos, the production form of SP Concept officially launched, we can have a Kia Seltos vs SP Concept comparison to show you the difference between the two models.

Also Read - Official Accessories for Kia Seltos Revealed.

Kia Seltos vs SP Concept Interior Comparison

The dashboard of the SP concept was showcased only through the video, while the Seltos's dashboard design is impressive.

Cockpit or say the dashboard is in the first sight, out of the driver seat, and that is where we believe Seltos owners would spend most of their time. But Kia kept the interiors well hidden while the car was on display at the Auto Expo, and it is only now after the Seltos's launch, we could experience the interiors in person. Though Kia reflected a slight light of how the dashboard would look like through a video of the SP Concept, wherein the dashboard wore brown upholstery, a two-spoke steering wheel with a massive boss pad, and AC vents with futuristic design. While, the Seltos has inherited black theme for its interior, with similar architecture for the dashboard with neat placement for climate control button, floating touch-screen unit for ICE, and a much better and appealing design for the steering wheel and soberer looking AC vent.

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Kia Seltos vs SP Concept Comparison - Front-end

The SP Concept headlamps housed floating indicators in them, while the Seltos comes with LED blinkers.

For the exteriors of the cars, it can be said that both cars look exactly similar to each other if observed from untrained eyes. While there are some vital changes made to the production-spec car, to make it more functional and budget-friendly. On the front, the concept car showed with a small skidplate finished in brushed aluminium with a wide lower air intake that spread itself along the width of the car, while the Seltos do with a larger front skid plate that divides the air intake into 3. Climbing upwards, any change is hard to notice as Kia has used similarly profiled bumper and fog lamp housings apart from the adoption of a more usable version of the ice-cube-LED fog lamps.

The Seltos has different augmentation for LED headlamps with practical ice-cube LED foglamps.

The headlamp design on the Seltos is also the same as its concept form, but the augmentation of the LED components has differed now. The Crown Jewel LED headlamps, the way Kia likes to call them houses indicators on the lower part which were seen integrated with to the main LED cluster of the headlamps, on the concept version. The Tiger Nose grille is now finished in matt-black and encompassed with chrome against the piano black grille seen on the concept, embroidered with brushed aluminium surrounds. The front-end, however, has retained all the design elements like the floating LED DRLs engraved in the grille, sculpted bonnet with similar lines and creases, but the Seltos do miss out on the flood-light bar seen on the SP concept.

Also Read - Kia Seltos 1.4-litre Turbocharged 0-100 km/h Acceleration.

Kia Seltos vs SP Concept Comparison - Side Profile

The SP Concept flaunted massive 20-inch alloys wheels, flush door handles and sleek ORVMs with dynamic turn indicators at the Auto Expo 2018.

The difference on the sides though is more evident between the two. The concept flaunted the flush door handles, massive 20-inch rims which filled the wheel arches to the max and the slim ORVMs were fitted with the dynamic turn signals. On the contrary, the production-spec Seltos has gone ahead with the conventional approach with smaller 17-inch alloy wheels (16s in some variants), bigger ORVMs with LED turn indicators on them and the door handles are now replaced with conventional pull-to-open units.

Seltos sits on smaller 17-inch rims and do with its conventional door handles.

The brushed aluminium finished shoulder line around the windows is now thicker, extends to the rear windscreen and is finished in chrome; also the roof rails are now larger with revised design adding to the Seltos’s height.

Also Read - Kia Seltos – All You Need To Know.

Kia Seltos vs SP Concept Comparison - Rear-end

The Concept version lacks any badging whatsoever and had saner LED tail lamps.

The design theme of the concept remains intact on the rear facet of the Seltos, but there are certain changes made, to make the car look a little more realistic in flesh. For instance, the aluminium slat connecting the tail lamps on the SP concept has made way for a thicker chrome slat that merges the tail lamps and also houses a pair of reverse lamps in it. The Heart-beat tail lamp design has taken over the place of saner LED tail lamps seen doing duties on the concept. Lower down the rear diffuser, the complexly designed metal insert which mimicked the exhaust tips is now replaced with easy design, in simpler words, the G-shaped fake exhaust tips are now replaced with elementary pentagons. The concept somehow was designed with fake air-vents below the rear tail lamps of the SUV, and Kia has intelligently replaced those non-functional vents with rear fog lamps, adding sense to the design elements.

The Seltos revised LED tail lamps, a windshield wiper, and a redesigned diffuser with fake exhaust tips.

There are some more noticeable changes on the rear like, the Seltos has an exhaust which peeps out from the underside of the rear bumper and the rear windscreen gets the convenience of a wiper. Yes, the peeping exhaust and the rear wiper were absent on the concept. And if badges do come under the changes perceived, the production version is not free from them like the concept was; it proudly wears the Seltos badge along with trim name and powertrain monikers.

Also Read - Hyundai and Kia To Enter The Pickup Truck Segment by 2021.

Kia Seltos vs SP Concept Comparison Verdict

On the whole, there’s a very fine line to differentiate between the SP Concept and the recently launched Seltos, as opposed to the orthodox trends where there used to be a thin line of similarity between the concept models and their production form. And we would love to applaud the efforts from Kia to minimize the transition between the SP Concept and Seltos to let the customer enjoy the feeling of driving a concept car.

Also Read - 2020 Hyundai Creta spied testing for the first time in India.

Do you agree with the verdict of our Kia Seltos vs SP Concept comparison? Let us know by sharing your thoughts with us.