2025 Kia Sportage unveiled with striking new design

• Mid-life facelift for the Kia Sportage
• New design inspired by Kia EV9
• Expected to arrive next year

You’re looking at the first official images of the new Kia Sportage, the updated version of one the UK’s best-selling SUVs. It’s been unveiled in its home market of South Korea, but the exterior and interior changes seen here will apply to the UK-bound Sportage when it’s revealed later this month. 

The Nissan Qashqai rival is now in its fifth generation and has been on sale since 2021, so this update arrives around halfway through its expected lifecycle. We’re still waiting for official UK specifications, but the dramatic new design and refreshed interior should help to modernise the Sportage and keep it competitive against the Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Tiguan and Peugeot 3008.

What’s new for the 2025 Kia Sportage?

The official Kia Sportage reveal confirms our suspicions from the teaser pictures shown off last month. The new model sports an overhauled front end design, ditching the somewhat polarising boomerang-shaped lights of the outgoing car. Instead, the new lights show a clear resemblance to those fitted to the Kia EV9 electric SUV, which has served as the design flagship for the South Korean brand in recent months – its design language has also filtered down to the new Sorento, EV3 and Picanto. 

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The slim ‘Star Map’ LED daytime-running lights give the face a more angular look, and sit either side of a new rectangular front grille. The two nostril-like air intakes above the grille remain, while the tail-lights have been given a new lighting signature to match the front. It’s worth noting that the car in these images is the Sportage LWB (long-wheelbase) which isn’t sold in Europe, but the styling changes here are expected to find their way to SWB (short-wheelbase) cars, too.

The interior has also been given a makeover, partly inspired by the EV9. It picks up that car’s widescreen digital displays, used for driving information and infotainment, although a bank of physical climate controls are still present. A new, simple horizontal climate vent spans the width of the dashboard, much like in the Kia EV6. The steering wheel is also new, this time pinched from the Kia EV3.

Engine specifications for UK cars remain a mystery, but we don't expect there to be any changes under the bonnet for this facelift. The current car’s 1.6-litre petrol engine should still be offered with three degrees of electrification – a mild hybrid, a self-charging hybrid and a plug-in hybrid – and all but the most affordable models will get an automatic gearbox. Four-wheel drive should still be offered for top-spec models, too, and we could even see a small range increase for the plug-in hybrid variant. The current car tops out at around 40 miles of range, which is some way off the 80-mile range of the latest Volkswagen Tiguan.

How much will the new Kia Sportage cost?

Official pricing will be confirmed after the new Sportage is fully revealed in the UK, but we’d expect a small price increase over the current car. That could see the starting price rise from around £29,000 to £31,000, with range-topping models costing around £47,000.

The Kia Sportage has some serious rivals – read about the best mid-size SUVs on sale…