2026 Kia Sportage: Updated SUV teased with new family face

The Kia Sportage will be the next model from the Korean brand to wear its new front-end design.

With the recent Sorento, Carnival and Picanto facelifts, Kia designers grafted on fresh front-end styling with more vertically oriented headlights inspired by the EV9 electric flagship.

Now, it’s the Sportage’s turn. The upgraded mid-sized SUV also wears new tail-light internals, while other exterior changes are set to include new bumpers and wheel designs.

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Kia has released a shadowy teaser image plus a short video previewing the styling tweaks.

Though it hasn’t confirmed a reveal date, we know the updated Sportage will launch in Australia during the second quarter of 2025.

We’ve seen the updated Sportage sans shadows but wearing camouflage, with our spy photographers capturing one testing earlier this month.

While this was a short-wheelbase, European-market model, the facelift will also be applied to the long-wheelbase model sold in markets like Australia, Korea and North America.

This prototype also appeared to have revised seat trim and door cards, as well as a more squared-off steering wheel.

It’s not yet known whether there will be any changes to the Sportage’s powertrain offerings.

In Australia, the popular Toyota RAV4 rival is currently offered with a choice of naturally aspirated 2.0-litre and turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engines, plus a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four and a 1.6-litre turbo hybrid. A turbo 1.6-litre plug-in hybrid is also offered overseas.

It’s unclear if the Australian-market Sportage, like the related Hyundai Tucson, will lose its diesel engine option with the update.

The Sportage is easily Kia’s best-seller in Australia, with a total of 16,095 sold this year to the end of September. The Cerato sits in second with 12,805 sales.

MORE: Everything Kia Sportage