Kia Sorento FACELIFT makes an early appearance in South Korea

The Kia Sorento is getting a facelift, with the first photos appearing in South Korea showing an EV9-inspired front end and updated interior.

We’ve just had a new Hyundai Santa Fe revealed with a radical new look, and now it’s the turn of the Kia Sorento – the Santa Fe’s Kia sibling – to get a makeover, revealed in South Korea ahead of an arrival expected for later in the year in the UK.

The standout update is a new front end with new slimmer LED lights, new bumpers and tweaked bonnet, looking similar to the EV9 at one end of the Kia range and the new Kia Picanto at the other.

Changes around the back are less noticeable, although the bumper’s been updated and the LED taillights tweaked, as well as new colour options and new alloy wheels too.

Inside the new Sorento, Kia has cleaned things up a bit with a new curved display housing 12.3″ screens for both instruments and infotainment, new air vents, new ambient lighting and revised climate controls, all quite similar to the EV6.

Engine options look likely to be revised versions of the current Sorento’s powertrains with a 2.2-litre 190bhp diesel, 1.6-litre turbo petrol with 227bhp and a PHEV with 281bhp.

This looks to be a facelift planned to take the Sorento to the end of its life as Kiat moves rapidly down the EV route, with the EV5 likely to supplant it in time.