We’ve been waiting for quite a few years for the Sportage to return in the Philippine market, and now it’s finally happening.

Kia Philippines has finally pulled the trigger, and has confirmed the Sportage will be back in their lineup very soon. We’d love to share more details about the sharply styled crossover, but we can’t do that just yet.

For now though, we’ll just give you some things we could expect once the model launches in the country. Based on our publicly available source, Kia Philippines already applied for regulatory approval for a gas-powered 1598cc passenger vehicle with a curb weight of 1696 kg.

We did a quick rundown of the numbers, and the figures point out indeed to the Kia Sportage. Previously, Kia did not offer the diesel-powered Sportage in the country as trade agreements between Philippines and South Korea for non-electrified vehicles would not give a competitive pricing to the crossover. 

This time though, Kia Philippines could be offering the Sportage powered by the same 1.6-liter turbo hybrid found on the 7-seater Sorento, based on the approval. It makes 235 PS and 367 Nm of torque mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission.

It’s a more favorable option since hybrids are still exempt from import duties based on PBBM's EO, and thus Kia Philippines could offer a more competitive price for it.

Speaking of which, there’s a nice gap between the Seltos and the Sorento in Kia’s local lineup. With the Seltos retailing for PHP 1,688,000 and the base Sorento selling for PHP 2,188,000, the Sportage Turbo Hybrid could slot in nicely at the PHP 1.8 to 2 million price range.

Watch out for our first impressions video of the Kia Sportage soon, as Vince is currently testing the crossover in South Korea.