2023 Kia Sportage Debuts Wild New Look and High-Tech Cabin

Say it in your best Keanu voice: whoa. After just a week since teasing the 2023 Sportage, Kia unveiled the design in full late Monday. It’s a dramatic new look inside and out, as Kia prepares its best-selling model to battle the likes of the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.

We’ve commended Kia before for the way its latest designs look similar to one another without being copies, and this new Sportage pushes the envelope. The front end adapts the brand’s tiger noise grille to its latest “Opposites United” design language, and the result is both unique yet distinctly Kia. The nostrils above the grille give the Sportage a welcome bit of aggression, while the diamond-shaped headlights work far better than the shape would suggest. LED strips slice through the grille and headlights—they have a bit of Mitsubishi to their shape, but the surrounding detailing ensures the Sportage nose looks unique.

Moving across the side of the Sportage, Kia has used two character lines to emphasize the rear haunches. A small bit of textured chrome-like trim along the window line visually ties the Sportage to other new Kias like the Sportage and Carnival. At the reaar are two taillights connected via a black trim piece.

Kia has pulled off a similar transformation inside the Sportage as well. A large curved screen groups the instrument panel and central infotainment screen together, a move typically reserved for premium cars costing three times a Sportage does. Flanking the screen are angular air vents, with the climate controls sitting below it all. The center console plays host to a rotary gear selector, with wheel and seat temperature controls to the right. The whole package is done up in an excellent creme-and-blue color scheme; it’s good to see the more adventurous interior color options aren’t only limited to Genesis in the Hyundai family group.

The Sportage will share its platform with the excellent new Hyundai Tucson. Because of this, we expect the engine and drivetrain options to mirror its sibling, translating to four-cylinder engines and a choice of front- or all-wheel drive. The Tucson’s regular hybrid and plug-in hybrid options should also carry over.

The 2023 Kia Sportage will go on sale before the end of the year. Kia will reveal more North American information leading up to the crossover’s launch.

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