2023 Kia Seltos Facelift Variant-Wise Expected Price Calculation With Logic

Note: These are our estimations based on the information available as of July 7, 2023. If we get more details before the price reveal like any quotes or interviews of top Kia officials, then we’ll carefully evaluate their tone and word choices with respect to the new Seltos. Should their words give us enough reason to change our opinion, we’ll factor those in and update this article to reflect the revisions.

Old Kia Seltos Price

The previous version of the Seltos came with a 1.35L turbo petrol engine but it was discontinued when the BS6-2 norms came into effect. Meanwhile, Kia were waiting for this moment to introduce the more powerful 1.5L turbo petrol engine to replace the 1.35L engine. Hence, we don’t have the most recent turbo petrol variants’ prices of the Seltos to form a baseline.

Other than the missing turbo petrol engine prices, the Seltos normal petrol-manual prices start at Rs. 10.89 lakh while the diesel-manual variants start out at Rs. 12.39 lakh. Both are available in the lower variants.

When it comes to the prices of automatic transmission, Kia are pretty consistent and quite fair too. The normal petrol CVT is available in the HTX variant and it costs Rs. 1.0 lakh more than the manual. In the case of the diesel variants, we don’t have a variant with manual as well as automatic transmission options. So, I referred to the prices of the Carens, where the automatic costs around Rs. 80,000 - 1.0 lakh over the auto-clutch manual transmission. This is the tentative price premium for the automatic transmission over the turbo petrol as well as turbo diesel engines.

2023 Kia Seltos Price — Petrol Variants Expected Price

With the knowledge of older Kia Seltos prices, we can assume that the automatic transmission should cost Rs. 1.0 lakh more than the comparable manual or auto-clutch manual variants.

The rest of the table is fairly self-explanatory with respect to the petrol variant prices of the Seltos 2023. Now, let me answer some of the questions that came to my mind while estimating the price list.

Why Do You Think The Starting Price Of The Seltos Facelift Will Remain More Or Less Same As Before?

While the new Seltos 2023 brings new style even to the base variant and also adds features like rear sunshade, it also removes front and rear armrests. So, it looks like the Seltos facelift is giving the business-as-usual vibe.

Moreover, it’s now facing stiffer competition. The Grand Vitara and Hyryder offer a more complete base variant. I personally love cars that offer a rich experience with their base variants even if they cost a little more. The Grand Vitara and Hyryder’s base variants feel more complete and more competently priced. The addition of Elevate will further make things difficult for the Seltos if it carries a value pricing.

Also Read: Honda Elevate Expected Price Calculation With Logic (Updated)

When the Seltos first arrived in India, it had little competition. Kia officials know all of these points quite well too. Defending their market share in the C-SUV segment is just as critical for the Seltos as it is to maximise profits. So, adding nominal price premium with the facelift seems reasonable.

Why Do You Think The Seltos 2023 Will Top Out At Rs. 20.0 Lakh And Not Cost More?

The new Seltos adds panoramic sunroof, ADAS features and a new design among major features. But if you look closely you’ll notice that these are not enough to warrant a significant price jump.

Features

The panoramic sunroof is not necessarily a feature addition but keeping up with the segment standards. The Hyryder, Creta, Grand Vitara and Astor already offer this feature. Coming to the ADAS, the Astor already offers this feature for a small incremental price. The Honda Elevate will also follow a similar approach as we have seen with the City sedan.

Finally, the design update was long overdue. The Seltos is getting its first major overhaul in 4 years since first launch. The typical product life cycle for a high-value model is 6 years. So, the design update is already a year late by industry standards.

All things considered, the Seltos is adding incremental updates to remain ahead of the major players in the C-SUV space — not enough to break the norms.

Psychological Barrier

Price Then comes the point of breaking the Rs. 20.0 lakh psychological barrier. It makes sense to decisively breach that level when you have the enough ammunition to justify blowing through the 20-lakh mark. And when you do, it’s best to plough through it like it was obvious and price a car at Rs. 21.0 lakh while making it an easy upgrade by offering enough features to justify Rs. 22.0 lakh price point. So, breaching it for a price of Rs. 20.25 lakh makes little sense since the current feature upgrades make it difficult to justify a price jump of more than Rs. 2.0 lakh over the current Seltos X-Line diesel-automatic.

Let Someone Else Do It

Eventually, someone will have to price their C-segment SUV beyond the Rs. 20.0 lakh mark. But doing so first also brings the responsibility of justifying it. It’s best to let someone else be confident enough (or arrogant enough) to break that psychological barrier for the C-SUV segment. Then the others can jump in later safely, walk over this level as if it doesn’t exist and use the value card while doing so.

On the flip side, I agree that the Rs. 20.0 lakh mark is not as critical as the Rs. 10.0 lakh level. Buyers in this segment are less sensitive to price than budget buyers. Currently, the most expensive C-segment SUV tops out at Rs. 19.90 lakh (ex-showroom), and that tells me something about the existence of this barrier even if it’s not too big to cross. But, in the meantime, I’m reserving the right to be wrong.

Why The Turbo Petrol Could Cost Rs. 2.0 Lakh More In HTK Plus Variant?

I have 2 reasons behind this thought:

1. Carens: In the Carens, the Prestige 7-seater 1.5L turbo petrol costs Rs. 1.60 lakh more than the 1.5L normal petrol manual.
2. Panoramic Sunroof: The HTK Plus turbo petrol gets the panoramic sunroof, which is only available in higher variants if you buy any other powertrain (petrol-MT or diesel-ACMT). It counts for something on top of the Rs. 1.60 lakh Kia think the more powerful turbo petrol engine and the convenience of the auto-clutch manual transmission deserve.

Together, the Rs. 2.0 lakh comes across as a good value and justifies upgrading to the HTK Plus turbo instead of buying the HTK Plus normal petrol-manual.

Also Read: Hyundai Exter Price - Variant Wise Expected Price With Logic

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2023 Kia Seltos Price — Diesel Variants Expected Price

As for the diesel variants, the same engine with transmission options will power the Kia Seltos 2023 facelift. So, the changes will mostly come in the form of variant-to-variant feature changes. Here too, I’m expecting the prices to remain about the same as before and only witness a nominal hike.

The diesel-auto-clutch variants of the Seltos 2023 could cost between Rs. 12.50 lakh and Rs. 18.0 lakh. Meanwhile, the 3 diesel-automatic variants of the Seltos facelift could cost Rs. 18.0 lakh, Rs. 19.75 lakh and Rs. 20.0 lakh.

Why Do You Think The Diesel Variants Could Cost Same As Turbo Petrol Variants?

If this question popped up in your mind, then that’s a great catch. If it didn’t, then let me take you to the source of this problem.

New Kia Seltos Turbo Petrol Vs Diesel — Expected Price Comparison

Here’s a quick comparison between my expected prices of the petrol and diesel variants of the upcoming 2023 Seltos:

Once again, I have 2 reasons for this:

1. More Powerful: The new 1.5L turbo petrol engine is more powerful than the diesel engine while offering about the same torque as the diesel engine. So, the only reason to still pick the diesel engine would be better fuel efficiency.
2. Maintaining Relevance: While the Seltos is one of the few C-segment SUVs to offer a diesel engine, they need to achieve enough sales to justify keeping it in production. A reasonable price (compared to the turbo petrol engine) gives them enough volume to keep addressing the needs of high-mileage customers.

How Could The HTK Plus Turbo Petrol-Auto Clutch Of Seltos 2023 Cost More Than Diesel-Auto Clutch?

One word: Sunroof.

The current HTK Plus diesel variant gets a sunroof, while the same variant in the Seltos facelift won’t get this feature. The only way to get a sunroof in the HTK Plus variant is to buy the turbo petrol ACMT variant. Moreover, the HTK Plus turbo petrol gets a larger panoramic sunroof, while the diesel-ACMT engine doesn't get any kind of sunroof at all.

Net-net, the diesel HTK Plus, which currently gets a small sunroof, won't get any after the facelift. Meanwhile, the turbo petrol HTK Plus will get a larger sunroof. So, it costs more than the diesel variant.

How Could The HTK Plus Diesel Variant Of The 2023 Seltos Be Cheaper Than Before?

Again, one word: Sunroof. The HTK Plus diesel currently gets sunroof while in the Seltos facelift, this feature is missing.

Here’s a quick comparison of the old Seltos prices with my expected prices of the 2023 Seltos facelift for your reference:

The X-Line Was Earlier A 30,000-Rupee Upgrade. Why Should It Cost Rs. 25,000 After The Update?

In the older Seltos, the X-Line variant added cosmetic features over the GTX Plus. The most important ones were larger alloy wheel size and a matte grey exterior colour.

This time around, even the GTX Plus gets the 18-inch alloys. So, it isn’t an upgrade for X-Line buyers. Besides the matte grey colour, the X-Line variant of the new Seltos 2023 offers a head-up display, which was earlier part of the GTX Plus. So, a Rs. 25,000 price gap seems reasonable against the Rs. 30,000 price difference between the older GTX Plus and X-Line variants of the Seltos.

Also Read: Honda Elevate Expected Price Calculation With Logic (Updated)

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I hope this article clarifies any doubts you may have with the expected prices of the Seltos. If you have any further questions or you spot anything I missed and should have included in my estimations, please comment down below and I’ll go update this article. Either way, if any new piece of information emerges, which conflicts with my opinion in this matter, I’ll revise my estimations and update this article. So, you can bookmark it if you’d like to get our latest estimations of the Kia Seltos 2023 prices.