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Kia teases Seltos compact SUV, will be revealed later this month

Wait 'til you hear how Kia came up with that name.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
Steven Ewing
Kia Seltos

The Seltos will go on sale in the second half of 2019.

Kia

Kia will launch a new compact SUV this year, and we now know that it'll be called Seltos. But perhaps more interesting than the announcement itself is the backstory behind the Seltos name.

According to a statement released Monday, Seltos "is inspired by Greek mythology and the legend of 'Celtos', the son of Hercules." Why the intentional misspelling, then? "The 'S' in the vehicle's adapted name implies speed and sportiness," according to Kia.

We've definitely heard weirder, at any rate.

The new Seltos has already been spied out on the street, so we have a pretty good idea of what it'll look like when it hits the road later this year. Inside, Kia says the Seltos will have "a range of technologies to maximize convenience, connectivity and ease of use," and will have a 10.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system, as well as the sound-specific mood lighting, kind of like what's offered in the Soul.

Kia says it'll reveal the Seltos later this month, and sales will begin in Korea and other undefined countries in the second half of 2019. The company confirms this is a global SUV, so expect it to show up in US dealers in the not-too-distant future, as well.

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