Kia offers Additional Features in Lower Trims

The Kia Seltos will be getting additional features in many of its lower variants derived from much higher variants. The changes include exterior design changes as well as interior colour elements and features. Kia cites that it has done this to keep up with increasing competition such as the Hyundai Creta and the MG Hector. But, we feel there is more to this decision. Find out below along with the exact changes.

Features

Remote engine start/stop will now be available on the automatic version of the HTK+,HTX, HTX+ and GTX. A panoramic sunroof along with LED cabin lights will now be available in the GTX and HTX variants. These were earlier available in the plus versions of the above variants. Standard features now will include the likes of an emergency stop signal and USB slots for both rows.

Interiors

The top-of-the-line GTX+ variant will now be made available with an all-black interior theme along with contrast red-stitching. The HTX, HTX+, GTX and the GTX+ trims will come with faux metal garnish on the AC control panel as well as on door grab handles. Also, the HTK+ variant will get a faux leather finish on the gear knob and a gloss black finish on the dashboard.

Exterior

The car will come with dual exhaust design on all variants except the HTE and the HTK variants. This was earlier only seen on much higher variants. It will also get metal scuff plates on the HTX and HTX+ variants which were earlier only seen on the GTX and GTX+ trims.

Possible Reason For These Changes

We believe that Kia will increase the pricing of its product with these changes. As we know all manufacturers have suffered huge losses in the past two months due to the lockdown. Even for the future of the industry, sales are not expected to be as high. In a bid to cover up losses Kia could have decided to increase the price of it’s highly competitively priced Seltos. This could help the company cover up some of the losses by generating higher revenue.

Will This Work?

If done, this could be a risky move by Kia. One of the reasons why it is loved the most by people is that it provides best features at affordable prices. Increasing it’s prices could in turn affect the sales of the product. Also there are many companies that are launching new schemes and offers to make it easier to buy a car. Maruti has launched a scheme of paying EMIs after buying a car. Many other companies also have attractive offers on their loans for the car. Kia doing the opposite of this could shift the buyers of their car to another company.