India's top-selling mid-SUVs to have hybrid powertrain in under three years from now

The Creta and the Seltos are the volume drivers for their respective companies in India.

With carmakers exploring a variety of powertrains for the Indian market, two of the best-selling mid-size SUVs, the Hyundai Creta and the Kia Seltos, are likely to have a hybrid option in less than three years.

As of now, the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder are the only mid-size SUVs offering a hybrid powertrain.

The Creta was the largest-selling mid-size SUV in India in FY25, with 1,94,871 units sold. The Grand Vitara followed it at 1,23,946 units and the Seltos at 72,618 units. Behind these three models was the Urban Cruiser Hyryder at 60,388 units.

For reference, the mid-size SUV segment contributed 25.76% to the overall SUV volumes in the domestic market in FY25. Of the 23,66,274 units of SUVs sold in India during the fiscal year, 6,09,516 units were of mid-size SUVs.

The Creta and its sibling, the Seltos, have the same internal combustion engine (ICE) options -- 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol (115 PS and 144 Nm), 1.5-litre turbo petrol (160 PS and 253 Nm) and 1.5-litre diesel (116 PS and 250 Nm).

The two mid-size SUVs also share transmission options like 6-speed manual transmission (MT), automatic intelligent variable transmission (IVT), 7-speed automatic dual-clutch transmission (DCT) and 6-speed automatic torque converter (AT). There is also a 6-speed intelligent manual transmission (IMT), but only for the Seltos.

According to sources, both the Creta hybrid and the Seltos hybrid will be on Indian roads by the calendar year (CY) 2027. The sources said that the new-generation avatars of the two vehicles will have a hybrid powertrain.

While the Creta is in its second generation at present, the Seltos is in its first generation. A generation change takes place usually after six to eight years and is accompanied by updates to design, features, specifications and, in certain cases, the platform of the vehicle.

Although hybrids are gaining traction in the Indian market, the growth has been relatively slow. In FY25, the hybrid models made up just 2.4% of the total cars sold, with the contribution being lower than that of the electric cars, which chipped in with 2.7%.

Hyundai Motor India's Whole-Time Director and Chief Operating Officer Tarun Garg recently told Moneycontrol that the Creta buyers may like a hybrid. The Creta was the best-selling Hyundai car in India in FY25, contributing 32.55% to the carmaker's domestic volumes.

One of the sources said that since the Seltos is already Kia's volume driver in India, the introduction of a hybrid powertrain will add to the demand. The Seltos had a share of 28.45% in Kia's domestic wholesales in FY25.