Kia’s Seltos Hybrid Rates 43 MPG Before It Even Has a Price

The 2027 Kia Seltos Hybrid is rated at 43 mpg combined with front-wheel drive and 40 with all-wheel drive, and Kia still has not said what it costs.

Those are the first official American fuel economy figures for the hybrid, and they arrive ahead of a price, a trim list or an on-sale date.

The front-drive hybrid is rated at 46 mpg in the city and 39 on the highway, while the all-wheel-drive version comes in at 42 city and 37 highway. Both pair a 1.6-liter four-cylinder with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic, and both run on regular gasoline. Against the gas Seltos, the hybrid is worth 13 mpg combined on the front-drive side and 12 mpg with all-wheel drive.

The numbers appeared on November 6 in the EPA’s fuel economy database, which routinely lists new vehicles before the automaker announces their ratings. Kia’s July 14 press debut for the second-generation Seltos said official fuel economy for the hybrid would come closer to its on-sale date and that the HEV was expected to arrive later this year, so the listing is the clearest sign yet that the car is close. Kia has not published the hybrid’s price or its full trim walk, and HyundaiHQ reported last week that the hybrid was still waiting while the gas models carried the lineup. Australia, meanwhile, got the Seltos Hybrid first.

The full 2027 Seltos lineup now looks like this on the EPA’s books:

2027 Seltos	City	Highway	Combined
Hybrid FWD, 1.6L	46	39	43
Hybrid AWD, 1.6L	42	37	40
2.0L FWD	28	33	30
2.0L AWD	26	30	28
1.6L turbo AWD	24	30	26

The gas engines have shifted a little in the new body. The 2026 Seltos with the 2.0-liter and all-wheel drive was rated at 27 city, 31 highway and 29 combined, so the 2027 all-wheel-drive car gives up a mile per gallon on each count, while the turbo all-wheel-drive model improves from 25 to 26 combined on a better highway number. Kia’s release puts the turbo at 190 horsepower with an eight-speed automatic and standard all-wheel drive, with the 2.0-liter running through Kia’s Intelligent Variable Transmission. Those gas models start at $24,990 for the 2.0-liter LX, run to $30,090 for the EX, and top out at $32,790 for the turbocharged X-Line SX, before destination.

Kia has said more about how the hybrid is built than what it costs. The July release describes the front-drive hybrid as the efficiency choice and the available e-AWD as a Kia first on a hybrid SUV, with on-demand all-wheel drive that the company says delivers more power as well as traction. The hybrid gets a stalk-mounted shifter borrowed from the Telluride and EV9, push-button start, and black 19-inch wheels on an X-Line EX HEV trim, the only hybrid grade Kia has named. The new Seltos is larger than the car it replaces, with a wheelbase 2.4 inches longer, 103.5 cubic feet of passenger volume that Kia calls best in class, and up to 8.1 inches of ground clearance.

The ratings put the Seltos Hybrid right on top of the car Kia is chasing. The 2026 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid, which comes only with all-wheel drive, is rated at 46 city, 39 highway and 42 combined, so the front-drive Seltos edges it by a mile per gallon combined while the all-wheel-drive Seltos trails it by two. The gas Corolla Cross returns 32 mpg combined with front-wheel drive and 30 with all-wheel drive, both ahead of the equivalent 2.0-liter Seltos. The Hyundai Kona, which shares the Seltos’s showroom price band, does not offer a hybrid in the United States.

The HyundaiHQ Take

A 43 mpg rating is the number Kia needed, because the Seltos Hybrid’s whole pitch is that it matches the Corolla Cross Hybrid on economy while offering a choice Toyota does not, front-wheel drive for less money or all-wheel drive for the same kind of buyer. The all-wheel-drive car giving up two mpg to Toyota is the price of Kia’s electric rear axle, and most shoppers will not notice it at the pump. What they will notice is that the hybrid still has no sticker, and that the gas Seltos already starts under $25,000. If the hybrid lands within $2,000 of a comparable gas trim, as Kia’s Sportage and Sorento hybrids do, it becomes the version to buy. Kia has been promising the car since April, and now that the EPA has done the hard part, the price is the only thing left.