2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid price and specs

The 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid has arrived in Australia, priced from $45,950 plus on-road costs.

Kia's rival for the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid will be available in two model grades initially, SX and GT-Line – which are the second-from-base, and top-of-the-range variants in the regular Sportage line-up – with front-wheel drive.

The SX Hybrid is priced from $45,950 plus on-road costs – $8400 more than the SX with a 2.0-litre non-turbo petrol engine and front-wheel-drive, or $3000 more than the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel all-wheel-drive version.

It costs $140 more than a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid GXL 2WD ($45,810 plus on-roads).

The GT-Line Hybrid is priced from $55,420 plus on-road costs, making it the most expensive Sportage ever sold in Australia.

It costs $5500 more than a GT-Line with a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and all-wheel-drive, $2500 more than the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel all-wheel-drive SX, and $4010 dearer than the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Cruiser 2WD.

Kia Australia says it expects to sell about 300 Sportage Hybrids each month, representing about 20 per cent of total Sportage deliveries.

Compared to petrol and diesel variants, the hybrid SX and GT-Line use space-saver spare wheels – rather than full-size units – with the GT-Line Hybrid featuring 18-inch alloys (compared to 19s on the petrol and diesel), and gaining a heated steering wheel.

Meanwhile the SX Hybrid gains a rotary-dial gear shifter previously exclusive to the GT-Line petrol and diesel variants, and also offered on the flagship hybrid.

Powering the hybrids is a 132kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine matched with a 44kW/264Nm electric motor, 1.49kWh lithium-ion polymer battery and six-speed automatic transmission.

Combined outputs are 169kW and 350Nm, matching the larger Kia Sorento Hybrid.

Kia claims fuel consumption in Australian lab testing of 4.9 litres per 100 kilometres – compared to 6.3L/100km for a 2.0-litre diesel, 7.2L/100km for a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol, and 8.1L/100km for a 2.0-litre non-turbo petrol Sportage.

In the same testing conditions, a front-wheel-drive Toyota RAV4 Hybrid claims 4.7L/100km.

The Kia Sportage Hybrid was unveiled three years ago, but has not come to Australia due to the lack of a suitable 'long-body' version built in right-hand drive.

A right-hand-drive Kia Sportage Hybrid is sold in the UK, however it is the short-body version built in Slovakia and sold in Europe, rather than the long-body model built in South Korea and sold in Australia.

A hybrid version of the long-body Kia Sportage has long been manufactured in South Korea alongside Australia-bound petrol and diesel models, but it has not been made in right-hand drive until now.

Note: All prices above exclude on-road costs.