Kia Motors Corporation has confirmed today that its all-new serial mass produced crossover model will retain the name and the spirit of the striking Kia Soul concept cars.
In addition to officially confirming the “Soul” nameplate, Kia has also released the very-first official photography of the production ready Soul crossover.
KIa staff state that the reaction from the automobile media and public has been overwhelmingly positive .
In addition to that, the fact that both physically and emotionally the Soul concept cars are so closely related to the new Soul production car, made it a natural choice to retain this evocative name.
First-generation Kia Soul
“The SOUL concept cars reveal a whole new ‘fun’ side to Kia.They signal that our new Kia Soul production model is poised to defy convention and offer buyers a ‘world of possibilities’ for expressing their personality.
This new model will reach out to a new group of consumers, appealing especially to the youngand young-at-heart,” added Mr. Lee.
The three concept cars – SOUL Burner, SOUL Diva and SOUL Searcher – were created by Kia’s European design team led by Gregory Guillaume, under the guidance of Kia’s Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer. They were developed from the original SOUL concept car designed jointly by Kia’s Californiaand Koreadesign studios and unveiled in 2006 at Detroit.
Speaking about the choice of name for the original 2006 Detroit concept car, Tom Kearns, chief designer of Kia Motors America commented, “We wanted to inject some life into this car’s design and give it a soul.And of course ‘Soul’ also is a homophone for the home city ofKia Motors headquarters, inKorea so it’s a fun play on words.”
Kia’s Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, strongly endorsed that name choice at the
Geneva Show earlier this year, commenting, “The name SOUL accurately reflects how people will be able to ‘express their spirit—their psyche’ with this new product.Through a variety of options, accessories and colours, they will be able to personalize their Kia Soul and create a sense of individuality, making the car a true reflection of their personality.”
Looking ahead to the 2008 Paris Motor Show, Gregory Guillaume observed, “Because the new Kia Soul is not a replacement for an existing vehicle and is destined to play a unique role within the Kia global lineup, it can be a bit of a rebel!
The trio ofGenevaconcepts were ‘appetisers’ for the new model introduction at Paris, and you can be certain that the new Kia Soul model will retain the core DNA of the three exciting concepts.”
The all-new Kia Soul defies classification but its design will encourage customers to build an emotional bond with this rebellious new car.
To be made inKoreafrom September 2008, Kia Soul provides a creative platform for buyers to individualise and match their car to their own personalities.
The new Kia Soul production car will make its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show October 2008.
OOOOOO. WOW. AT last. Its beatiful. GREAT GREAT GREAT find himi. did Kia presonally send this to you?
Quote: Engines at launch will be limited to the Ce’ed’s 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, with a six-speed manual transmission. An automatic option should follow after the launch.
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now thats a cool feature! 😀 good choice Kia!
are these shots now the original production version? If it makes its way to North America it should be quite a hit for Kia.
leftlanenews.com has a completely different article on the Soul. it WILL be sold in north america (thank god) & come with the next gen 2.0L i4 engine. no AWD/4WD is in the works. It also says that every 6-12 months Kia will launch a new set of colors/packages for the car. whatever that all means. I just want one…
Kia says that the soul will have a LOT of options so that people can customise the car to their tastes. To meet with those different tastes, Kia has to keep offering, or rather, updating the packages. To bad there wont be an AWD drivetrain. I really wanted that. hope it will be available in the future. Majority of the Qashqais I see are AWD.
BTW, those colors of the souls shown above are: Bright Silver, Tomato Red and Vanilla Shake!
I’ll check out leftlanenews.com now.
Those are the same wheels on the Rio5 SX. Also, I finally have a picture of my friend’s Rio5. You can find it on my website under “Kia Pictures” Website is updated by Midnight USA eastern time. To go to my site, click on my name above. Thanks!
sorry! Click on the name on this post. The last one was wrong!
the rims on the RIO5 aren’t 18″ rims as they are on the SOUL. FYI.
Look at them compared to rio5. BTW, FYI, those on that Soul are 16″, the same 16″ used on Rio5.
conwelpic: Yes, these pics show the production ready Kia Soul.
I’m really impressed!! And of these three, I find silver Soul the most attractive.
I like the tomato red. But I’d choose a dark blue or matte black [like on soul burner.]
These photos are not the best to forsee the overall shape of the Soul. But so far, so good!
There’s only one thing, black rub strips and handles need to be repainted!!
hmmm, those door-handles need revising…
I think the rub strips add contrast that maks it look attractive. The doors need spectra’s handles.
yes. I feel the same about the strips. I dont like the door handles.
i like it except for the handles as well. the rub guards are fine for me tho. IMO. & as for the rims, take it from me (someone who actually works for Kia, & not a sales lot, & has seen it in the flesh), those aren’t the same RIO5 rims. look @ the pic that is a slideshow @ the top of this page, you can def tell. the SOUL rims are more flush & the rios aren’t & also have a larger hub/spoke ratio…
Boris, in your post above you quoted this “Quote: Engines at launch will be limited to the Ce’ed’s 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, with a six-speed manual transmission. An automatic option should follow after the launch.”
Where did you get that info? I’m interested because you mention a 6-speed manual transmission which would be perfect, but I doubt Kia will offer it as standard transmission.
Great writeup. This is the only thing I’ve found anywhere on the Soul
Hey himi, Do we have a date for dealer delivery in this write up it says . The new Kia Soul production car will make its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show October 2008. Does that meen we wont see the soul in dealerships at all this year??????
Yes, It’s possible that Kia Soul will not hit the dealers until early next year. By that I mean month of January. It depends on the country, but first, Soul will be avaliable to Korean consumers and then world-wide.
Kia will reveal more informations about Soul at the British Motor Show next month. I hope we get more details at that time.
Well no problem, since i wrecked my tradein i will just have to buy a clunker too drive untill the Soul is available in the Ok. city area….Hopefully time will pass quickly…
I like the dark gray. are there any good shots of the interior?
ducatinova: No official images of the interior so far, but Soul’s official debut is getting closer and it’s only a question of days when we see some shots.
But we do have some spy shots: check this out:
http://www.thekeea.com/index.php/2008/05/24/spied-2009-kia-soul-interior/
or
http://www.thekeea.com/index.php/2007/11/28/caught-in-the-act-kia-soul/