Is Kia PH preparing for all-new 2022 Sportage?

It looks like Kia Philippines is about to launch its latest compact crossover this year: the Sportage.

While the automaker has yet to make any official announcement regarding this, we have reason to believe that Kia is already making preparations for its eventual arrival and launch.

Just like Chevrolet Philippines which recently secured approval for two vehicles earlier this month, Kia was able to secure approval as well for an upcoming model. Based on the listing we saw, the mystery vehicle will have a turbo-diesel engine with a displacement of 1999cc which translates to 2.0-liters.

Looking at the brand's current lineup of vehicles abroad, the only 2.0-liter turbo-diesel Kia has is available in the Sportage. The crossover currently makes 185 PS with 400 Nm of torque thanks to the 2.0-liter R2 turbo-diesel. The engine is then paired to a 6-speed automatic gearbox.

When the all-new Sportage was revealed last year a 2.0-liter turbo-diesel heart was part of the model range, though t's now based on the brand's new Smartstream family of engines. More importantly, it's slightly more powerful and now puts out 186 PS plus 417 Nm of torque. Power is then sent to an 8-speed automatic transmission.

Given that the fourth-generation Kia Sportage is already due for a replacement, this leads us to believe that Kia is already making the necessary preparations. However, we have yet to find out just how many variants the automaker will have. In addition, there are no prices available yet for the upcoming crossover.

But since Kia has already secured the certificate, it might not be long before Kia Philippines actually launches it later this year. Until then, we'll be keeping an eye out for more possible info and details about Kia's soon-to-be-revealed model.