2025 Kia Sportage facelift gets early reveal in Korea

We were expecting the new Kia Sportage to make its debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show later this month, but thanks to its early unveiling in Korea, we have been given a sneak peek at the big-selling SUV ahead of time. It showcases a new look for the exterior and interior, new technology and a fresh hybrid offering. 

The fifth-generation Sportage arrived in 2021 and has been a regular fixture in the top 10 list of best-selling cars here in the UK. Kia is now looking to make the Sportage even more appealing with this mid-life update, which it’ll need to be, given its range of rivals includes Hyundai’s sister model, the Tucson, plus the Ford Kuga, Volkswagen Tiguan and Toyota RAV4. 

While these pictures show a Korean-market car, we expect the UK model to look almost identical. European versions get a shorter wheelbase more appropriate for our roads, but the platform tech buried within is unchanged.

Design wise, the Sportage’s new headlight design is probably the biggest visual difference. The look apes the ‘star map’ style we’ve seen on the Kia EV3, EV5 and even the Picanto city car recently. The mid-size SUV also gets a new grille and bumper to go with additional foglights in the lower section. 

Further changes can be seen down the side of the Sportage with new alloy wheels (in a choice of 17, 18 and 19-inch sizes), while the rear pillar has been completely restyled for the new model. The side skirts have been updated for the 2025 car, too, and at the rear there are fresh lights and a redesigned bumper. Overall, it’s more extensive facelift than Hyundai gave the mechanically similar Tucson earlier this year.

Inside, the twin 12.3-inch curved screens are carried over from higher specification versions of the outgoing Sportage, although the positioning of the air vents and overall dash design is much simpler now. The familiar panel of dedicated switches for the climate control and media are still located in the lower portion of the dashboard. 

Elsewhere, a two-spoke steering wheel design with the offset Kia logo has been taken from the similarly sized all-electric EV3, and Kia has removed the piano black material from the centre console – presumably to boost perceived quality and make it better equipped at dealing with the rough and tumble of family life.

While the aforementioned platform will be carried over unchanged, Kia has fiddled with the Sportage’s powertrain line-up for 2025. There’s still an entry-level mild-hybrid, but power has been boosted from 157bhp to 178bhp. The Korean car comes with a six-speed automatic transmission sending power to all four wheels, although the popular front-wheel-drive car with a manual gearbox will most likely remain for the UK and Europe.

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Above this is an LPG offering that won’t come to the UK; interest in this fuel type has seen a steady decline over the past two decades, with infrastructure continuing to dwindle.

A full-hybrid Sportage will continue to be offered, however. Currently, this version uses a 1.6-litre petrol engine mated to a small battery and electric motor for modest electric running – when parking or creeping along in traffic, for example. Korean specs detail a less powerful 178bhp powertrain (down from 207bhp), and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. The outgoing UK car uses a six-speed transmission, but the exact layout of European cars remains to be seen.

The current Sportage is also available with a 248bhp plug-in hybrid powertrain, and while there’s no word on this yet, we expect it to be carried over for the new car with a particular focus on fleet customers wanting low CO2 emissions for favourable Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax rates. We may see a boost to the battery to offer a slightly longer EV range, too.

We’ll have more detail when the car is revealed in full at the LA show in a couple of weeks, although the European version (which will continue to be built in Slovakia) isn’t likely to be revealed until the middle of 2025, with sales pencilled in for a little later in the year.

Pricing hasn’t been discussed at this stage, but expect a slight increase over the current Sportage’s starting point of £29,390. We should see the usual 2, 3, GT-Line and GT-Line S trims offered, with top-spec cars getting luxury-car kit like big wheels, leather trim and a panoramic roof.

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