Car Sport 2011: Kia Soul

Showing posts with label Kia Soul. Show all posts

3/29/10

Kia Unveils Soul Safety Car for U.S. Touring Car Championship

Following its debut at last year's SEMA motor show in Las Vegas, the Kia Soul Safety Car has made its track debut at the U.S. Touring Car Championship (USTCC) that is sanctioned by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA).

Kia's funk-o-wagon was modified by "GOGOGEAR" and it features upgraded suspension and tires, plus special strobe lights inside the headlamps, taillights and the light bar.

Other enhancements include a new body kit, a custom free flow Borla exhaust, a light weight Optima battery, as well as a short ram intake by Takeda.

Kia Tries to Tempt UK Buyers with New Limited Edition Soul Tempest

The beginning of the month sees Kia's UK division launching yet another limited edition version of the Soul, the 'Tempest', which replaces the outgoing 'Samba' model. Part of Kia's Original Collection models, the Tempest comes in a Titanium Silver finish with black high-gloss bumper inserts and door mirrors, and is fitted with specific black 18-inch alloy wheels. As for the interior, the Tempest gets 'Soul-Shine' black seat trim with metallic centre fascia and chrome accents on the dashboard and instrument clusters.

Other key features of the limited edition model include a reversing camera system with electrochromic rearview mirror and an upgraded audio system featuring a dash-top centre speaker, rear sub-woofer and external amplifier.

The Soul Tempest is available with 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines with prices starting from £12,845.

Kia Soul in Police Outfit to Patrol Sussex Streets

A local Kia dealer has donated a 'vanilla-cream' Soul to the Sussex Police department in the UK for use in their neighborhood policing program. While you won't be seeing the Soul chasing law-breakers on the highway, the small crossover will be used by the team of Police Community Support Officer's (PCSOs) as part of their routine street briefings and the general safe-keeping of Horsham South's communities.

"The car is as highly visible as we are!" said PCSO Charlotte Whittaker. "We were delighted to have been given a car by Toll House, but to have one that turns heads as swiftly as this one does only helps us become more visible to the public."

Toll House Kia, which provided the police-branded Soul Shaker to the Sussex Police department for a year, said that it will replace the car after six months.

Carscoop's April Foolery

Here's the round up with our April Fool's Day automotive hoaxes. We hope you enjoyed all of them and we promise to come up with even better ones next year.

Kia Release AFD Rally Package for Soul

Korean automaker Kia has announced the launch of a new aero kit for the Soul crossover. Aside from the aesthetic rewards, buyers will be happy to know that the aerodynamic doodads also reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions through a simple and low-cost system called Air Propulsion and Retardation Installation Line. The system is said to rely on microscopic sensors built into the bumpers which constantly monitor wind speed and deploy panels when the wind is sufficient to provide additional directional impetus according to the car's behavior.

Systems Manager Kuasimati Seoulitsou from Kia's Advanced Technorave Research Institute in Mabuk, said: "The big problem with most emission reduction systems is that they are expensive. We wanted to come up with an answer that didn't cost the earth and could be retrospectively applied to cars already on the road."

"Tests of this system at our Nong Dam facility have shown that during windy weather fuel consumption can be reduced by up to 25 per cent and emissions by anything up 40 per cent. Even in calm weather using the system simply under braking can result in reductions of 10 per cent and 15 per cent respectively," he added.

The new aero kit system will be available on all Souls ordered after midnight on March 31, 2011. Prices will be announced in a few hours.

U.S. Market Kia Soul Photos Appear on the web

We wouldn't go as far as calling it a leak as the Kia Soul has already been revealed at the Paris Show (click here for our high-res gallery), but nonetheless, the first pictures of the U.S.-spec subcompact wannabe-crossover have made their way into the blogosphere. The photos are accompanied by a second set of images from a scanned brochure that show us the options that are being made available to the Canadian-spec model. The Soul will make its first public appearance on U.S. soil at the LA Auto Show on November 19 with sales scheduled to begin in early 2009.

In the States the Soul will be offered exclusively with a 2.0-liter petrol engine producing 142 HP at 6,000 rpm and 186 Nm (137-lbs/ft) of torque at 4,600 rpm. Buyers can opt for a 5-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic.

Less-power-hungry consumers in Europe and other markets will also be able to choose between a smaller 1.6-liter gasoline engine generating 126 HP at 6,300 rpm and 156 Nm (115-lbs/ft) of torque at 4,200 rpm and a more frugal 1.6-liter turbo diesel delivering 126 HP at 4,000 rpm and 255 Nm (188-lbs/ft) of torque at 2,000 rpm.

Via: Kia-World

Kia Soul Rendering Speculations: Three-Door and Convertible Variants

A Kia fan has whipped up a couple of computer generated renderings based on the Korean automaker's newest proposition in the sub-compact segment, the Soul which was recently revealed at the Paris motorshow. Kia-World forum member Kevin created a rather convincing three-door variant as well as a less inspiring soft-top convertible version of the Soul. -Continued

Despite the fact that Kia has not announced plans to offer any additional versions of the Soul other than the five-door hatchback that will go on sale in Europe next February followed by North America in April 2009, we wouldn't be surprised if the Korean firm actually presents a three-door variant of its so-called "Urban Crossover" in the near future.