Kia’s facelifted Sportage has yet to be revealed, but the brand has confirmed when it’ll come to Australia.
The refreshed mid-sized SUV is due here in the second quarter of 2025.
Camouflaged prototypes have been spied testing, revealing the Sportage will adopt Kia’s new corporate face with more vertically oriented lighting elements.
Also expected to be changed are the grille and front bumper, while previous spy photographs have revealed a refreshed bumper, revised tail lights and new wheel designs.
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Photos shared by Autospy of an undisguised Sportage being partially obscured by umbrellas show the grille isn’t dramatically changed, but the front end has a very different look thanks to the more squared-off lighting elements.
Kia has been busily rolling out a new EV9-inspired front end design for other models like the refreshed Picanto and Sorento.
The current Sportage has a front end that doesn’t really align with anything else in the Kia lineup as, despite the presence of the brand’s tiger nose grille, there are exaggerated, boomerang-shaped daytime running lights bracketing diamond-shaped headlight clusters.
While we haven’t seen inside the updated Sportage yet, it’s expected to feature a refresh too, adopting a small climate control touchscreen between its digital instrument cluster and infotainment touchscreen à la the EV9.
Currently, the Sportage is offered with either an 8.0-inch or 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, and either a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster or a small 4.2-inch information screen flanked by a pair of unusually styled digital screens.
It’s not yet known whether there will be any changes to the Sportage’s powertrain offerings.
In Australia, it’s currently offered with a choice of naturally aspirated 2.0-litre and turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engines, plus a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four and a 1.6-litre turbo hybrid. A turbo 1.6-litre plug-in hybrid is also offered overseas.
It’s unclear if the Sportage, like the related Hyundai Tucson, will lose its diesel engine option with the update.
Current Sportage 
As with the Tucson, the Sportage is built in both short- and long-wheelbase versions, with Australia only getting the long-wheelbase version from Korea.
The Sportage is easily Kia’s best seller in Australia, with a total of 16,095 sold this year to the end of September. The Cerato sits in second with 12,805 sales.
MORE: Everything Kia Sportage
