Special Car, auto, cars, vehicles

Aimed at a group of young buyers who wish to make a statement with their vehicles, the all-new Kia Soul delivers unique styling and proportions with fuel-efficiency and safety in a 5-door hatchback package. Kia will offer a variety of packages to allow buyers to personalize their vehicle with interior materials and colors, lighting and exterior body kits and accessories.

The world premiere of the production version of the Soul revealed that the design has remained true to the SOUL Concept that debuted at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit and the three SOUL concepts created in Europe for the Geneva Motor Show in March 2008.

Peter Schreyer, Kia Motors Corporation chief design officer who oversaw the transformation of the Soul from concept to production, described it as “new type of compact vehicle” that is all about emotions.

“The new Kia Soul will be a breakthrough vehicle for Kia on its journey to be seen as a design-led company and the maker of distinctive cars which consumers aspire to own,” said Schreyer.

“The visual themes and core proportions of the original Detroit Show concept car have been largely retained, while a range of subtle styling and innovative equipment choices have been skillfully created to enable Soul to be tailored to the specific requirements of consumers in different global markets – with cars sourced from a single factory.”

Interior access is easy thanks to tall doors and a high seating position, and the Soul features what Kia calls a ‘laid back’ dashboard with a three-dial instrument cluster and a ‘floating’ center stack that slopes up and away for ideal access to the audio system. Soul owners will have multiple options to personalize the interior with different colors, fabrics, lighting and audio systems.

Three Trim Levels

For the U.S. market, the Soul will be available in three trim levels: Soul, Soul with more and Soul with even more.

The base Soul will be powered by a 120-horsepower, 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine with a 5-speed manual transmission. Standard equipment includes dual front airbags, front seat-mounted airbags and side-curtain airbags, tire-pressure monitoring system, power door locks, power windows, AM/FM/MP3/Satellite audio system and USB/Aux audio inputs. The Convenience Package adds air conditioning, ABS+ESB and solar glass.

The Soul with more is powered by a 140-horsepower, 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine, combined with a 5-speed manual transmission or an optional 4-speed automatic. Additional standard equipment includes 16-inch alloy wheels, air conditioning, ABS+ESC, cruise control, steering-wheel-mounted audio controls, remote keyless entry, Bluetooth hands-free connectivity, privacy glass and height-adjustable driver’s seat.

The Soul with even more gets all the above plus 18-inch alloy wheels, leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped shift knob and power moonroof.

Final pricing has not been announced but Kia said that it will be aggressively priced in the teens.