Kia Motors Corp.’s new compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) Seltos is poised to join the best-selling car club in Korea, with its pre-order already topping 3,000 units in the first eight days in Korea.

The Seltos is the Korean automaker’s new compact SUV, which was first unveiled as the Kia SP Concept at the 2018 Auto Expo.

A Kia Motor official said the Seltos is selling as quickly as other country’s top-selling compact SUVs such as Hyundai Motor Co.’s Kona and Ssangyong Motor Co.’s Tivoli.

The Seltos is built on the same platform used in the Kona, the subcompact crossover of Kia Motor’s bigger sibling Hyundai Motor, but measures longer and offers bigger interior space. It has 62.1 cubic feet of total cargo space with rear seats folded down and 24.2 cubic feet of space when the seats in upright position.

Its features include a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system, 360-degree camera, 8.0-inch head-up display for projecting driving information such as turn-by-turn navigation directions and vehicle speed information.

Also, it is fitted with an autonomous emergency braking system with pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, driver attention warning, and navigation-based adaptive cruise control along with other safety features.

The official sale of the Seltos in Korea will begin on July 18, with its price set at around 19.3 million won ($16,000) won for basic 1.6-liter turbo gasoline model.

By Lee Jong-hyuk and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]