2025 Kia Sportage facelift rendered: Mid-life update of medium SUV ready to bring the fight to Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-Trail, Subaru Forester and Toyota RAV4 

The current, fifth-generation Kia Sportage arrived here in late 2021 and with a mid-life facelift in the works Seoul-based design group, New York Mammoth, has rendered the new car based on intel buzzing around the Korean domestic market.

According to The Korean Car Blog the updated Sportage will adopt EV-focused design and tech introduced by its pure-electric siblings the EV9 and EV3, as well as the next-size-up Sorento SUV.

Highlights are the ‘Starmap Lighting System’, which comes courtesy of the EV9, incorporating “intricate, constellation-like patterns” that not only improve forward vision but make the car more detectable at night for other drivers and pedestrians.

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Styling will take cues from the recently released Sorento, with a bold grille and lower bumper layout accommodating the Starmap headlights, a new, even more angular tail-light treatment applied to the rear and inside it’s likely we’ll see a three-screen multimedia and driver information array. 

Powertrain upgrades will possibly include hybrid and pure-electric options with a rationalisation of the current three-engine internal-combustion line-up likely.

Available engines in the 2024 Sportage are all four-cylinder, specifically the long-serving 2.0-litre petrol (115kW/192Nm) and turbo-diesel (137kW/416Nm) units, as well as a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol (132kW/265Nm).

Available engines in the 2024 Sportage are all four-cylinder, specifically the long-serving 2.0-litre petrol (115kW/192Nm) and turbo-diesel (137kW/416Nm) units, as well as a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol (132kW/265Nm).

Active safety is likely to include enhanced driver assistance tech including advanced collision avoidance systems and adaptive cruise control.

CarsGuide has contacted Kia Australia for comment on potential timing for the facelifted Sportage’s global reveal and local introduction and this story will be updated as more information comes to hand.