Baldauf/Jalopnik Over the last few decades, most generations of car have lasted seven to ten years, receiving a facelift of two halfway through, but lifecycles are starting to get shorter. We're not quite back at the level of the 1950s, when cars would get completely new designs every single year, which is a bit of a shame but also simply not realistic with modern vehicles. The Korean brands have been introducing brand new generations quicker than almost any others, with big leaps in styling between each one, and the latest one to get spied by our photographers is the next-gen Kia Sportage. The current Sportage was revealed in the summer of 2021 but didn't go on sale in the U.S. until the following year for the 2023 model year, and it only just got a facelift for 2026. That's a damn short lifespan, especially for a company's top seller — Kia has sold over 145,000 Sportages in the U.S. through September, a good sight more than the K4 and Telluride. From what we can see of this camouflaged prototype the new Sportage will look even wackier than the current one, and under the skin it should mirror the new Hyundai Tucson that's been fully revealed. We've already seen what the lights look like Baldauf/Jalopnik This prototype is heavily camouflaged, but there are still a lot of details we can see through the black coverings and patterned wrap. The 2026 Sportage's facelift gave it tall rectangular headlight clusters, similar to the Carnival's front end, and while these photos make it seem like this new generation will have even cooler and taller stacked lights flanking a wider, boxier grille, that's not exactly the truth. There will be a cluster of lights low down in the bumper, but going up along the sides of the grille will be a thinner section of LED running light that kinks over and up to the edge of the hood, then moving inward to meet a small light array. It's already been leaked: Like the Tucson it'll have a clamshell hood, which is pretty neat for an affordable compact crossover. Those wheels are definitely just testing units, as there's no way Kia would put out anything that boring. It looks like the greenhouse will be more rakish than the current Sportage, with a potentially blacked-out A-pillar that would give it a visor look. Expect interesting surfacing and character lines along the sides, and hopefully some nice boxy fender flares. The rear end is completely covered, but I bet it'll take cues from models like the EV3 and Telluride. Given how this prototype was spied in Europe, you're probably looking at the short-wheelbase model and not the long-wheelbase SUV we'll get in the U.S.; the two will probably have unique D-pillar designs, but otherwise not many differences. It'll have Pleos inside Baldauf/Jalopnik We haven't seen photos of the new Sportage's interior yet, but it'll be one of the first Kia's to get HMG's new Pleos infotainment system, which my colleague Logan tried out in a Korean-spec Hyundai Grandeur. That system allows for a lot of new technology, from active-safety stuff to downloadable user-created apps and expanded over-the-air updates. Given how nice the new Telluride is (and the new Tucson), the redesigned Sportage's cabin should punch above its class. Like its Hyundai sibling, the Sportage should be ditching its base naturally aspirated inline-4 engine, with the new base powertrain being a turbocharged 1.6-liter four with a little more power than before. That same engine paired with a hybrid system will be optional; in the Tucson that setup gets up to 42 mpg, so the Sportage should be similarly efficient. Hyundai isn't offering a Tucson PHEV, but there may be a range-extender version instead, and the same will likely be true for the Sportage. If I had to guess, I'd say the 2028 Kia Sportage will probably get a global reveal in the spring, before going on sale in the U.S. by the end of the year. Given how the Tucson is getting an actually rugged XRT Pro variant, I bet there will by a Sportage X-Pro equivalent, too.