From the Apex · Launch Mode · 2026-09-18

Kia has a Syros that can run on ethanol. India is still building the pumps.

A concept, shown on 4 September with no price, date or power figures. E85 went on sale at 48 pumps in June, with 500 due by December.

• Kia showed a flex-fuel Syros concept on 4 September 2026, with no price, launch date or power figures.
• It is reported to pair the Syros 1.0 turbo petrol with a 6-speed torque-converter automatic, a gearbox no petrol Syros has today.
• E85 went on sale at 48 pumps in June, with 500 due by December 2026.
• The only flex-fuel car on sale in India is the Wagon R, and only to commercial buyers.

Kia is the latest carmaker to show India a car that runs on ethanol. Only Maruti's is on sale, and only to commercial buyers.

Kia showed a flex-fuel concept of the Syros at its Sorento launch event in New Delhi on 4 September 2026. There is no price, no launch date and no power or torque figure, and Kia India has not published a press release about it. Its executives told reporters that Kia plans to bring the technology to India, without saying when.

The concept is reported to use the Syros's 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol, with a new engine control unit and fuel system so it can run on anything from petrol to pure ethanol. On today's petrol that engine makes 120 PS and 172 Nm. It is paired with a 6-speed torque-converter automatic, which no petrol Syros offers now: the cars on sale use a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed dual-clutch. Hyundai's Creta flex-fuel concept at the 2025 Auto Expo used the same pairing.

The fuel is the harder part. Every pump has sold E20 as standard since 1 April. E85, which is 80 to 85% ethanol, went on sale at 48 public-sector pumps on 5 June, priced nearly ₹20 a litre below petrol, and the government's target is 500 pumps by December and about 5,000 by December 2027. Ethanol holds less energy than petrol, so a car running on E85 burns more of it per kilometre, and the saving per kilometre is smaller than ₹20 a litre suggests.

Tax gives no push either. A flex-fuel car pays the same GST as a petrol car, and a proposal to cut it to 12% has not been decided. Maruti's Wagon R, the one flex-fuel car on sale, is reported at ₹7.24 lakh ex-showroom.