This is a brief review of the 2010 Kia Soul, written by our good friend known as JoshLofty here at our boards. On his way home, he visited one of the Kia dealers in his neighbourhood to check out the all-new Soul crossover. He got to see it up-close and even took some nice images with his mobile phone camera. Here are a few words about the Soul that he wants to share with you:

So i was back “home” (about 2 hrs south from where i currently live) and passed by the local kia dealership, which is part the biggest network of Kia, Hyundai, & Suzuki cars in the southern States here, just to see when they would have the new soul in & they had 3! There were 2 outside on stilts and there was a white one in the showroom which i took pics of.

It was a really cool car! The size is perfect! Its bigger than a Rio and smaller than a Spectra, which is perfect, IMO. I stand 5′8″ and the top of the car came to my shoulder, for comparison. It had a wide stance as well. The 18″ wheels also fit nicely with the car aiding in its amazing appearance!

Inside, the car was roomy, but felt sporty - looking out, it felt as if i were in a Hummer. the upright-ish windshield, the high beltline and low sloping roofline gave it a very unique, but good, aura. The build quality felt great! Much higher than implied by some of the reviews read.

There was plenty of room in front and rear as well as the rear storage areas in the car. I turned the key to play with the stereo and the trick LED red lights were very cool! The sound system truly is outstanding! It would benefit from a seperate subwoofer controller (through the head unit) but makes due with what it’s got; which is simple “bass”, “treb”, & “mid” settings.

But the stereo definitely did NOT sound like it was in a sub-$20K compact. Note: it did have the upgraded sound system. The feel of the controls was superb and the time I spent inside was very pleasing as well. Everything felt great. Kia definintely spent some time in the makings of this car.

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Here we have yet another interesting comparison of the two latest econobox cars, the 2010 Kia Soul and Nissan Cube. Both of them were evaluated during Chicago Auto Show, by Patrick Olsen from Kickingtires.com who pointed out some of the strengths and weaknesses of both Gen-Y vehicles.

After we have seen the Soul beating Scion xB and Nissan Cube S earlier today, here’s another win for Kia Soul! Go Kia!!

Kia releases more rendering images of the forth-coming 2010 Kia Sorento!

Today, Kia  released two additional teaser shots previewing it’s forthcoming 2010 Sorento crossover. Codenamed XM, the next generation Sorento will be officially unveiled at the Seoul Motor Show in April and is expected to go on sale shortly afterwards (In South Korea).

Similarly to all latest Kia offerings, the 2010 Sorento has also been designed under the watch of ex-Audi designer Peter Schreyer. The upcoming crossover incorporates a new face of Kia and sports some clean and simple styling lines - taken from the KUE concept, we have seen debuting at the North American Auto Show back in 2007.

While the new Sorento goes on sale in South Korean market sometime by the end of April, US and European consumers will have to wait a few more months to place the first orders. The all-new Sorento is expected to arrive to the international markets in late 2009 as a 2010 model.

The 2010 Sorento will be available with an array of technologically advanced engines. It’s engine line-up will include the next generation 2.2L R-diesel engine (200 horsepower) delivering an impressive 33MPG, a 2.4L Theta II gasoline engine and a 3.8 in-line six, gasoline powered, engine with 270+ horsepower. Engines will be coupled to a new six-speed automatic transmission.

Kia has not released any information on the official US release date for it new “unibody platform riding” Sorento, but we have heard rumor spreading around that we might see the 2010 Kia Sorento to be brought to New York International Auto Show, which is opening it’s doors to the public on April 10.

Related link: Another Sorento teaser image

Click image to enlarge!

Comparison test: Kia Soul Sport, Nissan Cube S, Scion xB

The fellows at Popular Mechanics have put the all-new Kia Soul urban crossover head to head with the latest Nissan Cube S and the good old Scion Xb. This is believed to be the first comparisson test of these three fuel-sipping box-cars, all of them targeting the same, Y-generation consumers.

Popular Mechanics took all three over a variety of road conditions on a 300 mile journey throughout Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. After their evaluation, they put the Soul in front of it’s rivals.

Among all three cars, Soul Sport was the most fun to drive and it also achieved the best fuel economy (31.2 mpg). The Soul was praised for it’s spacious cabin, which offers plenty of passanger room and feels more comfortable than the one in Cube and Scion. In terms of design, the Soul Sport was the least boxy of the group but its 18-inch alloy wheels and flared fenders provide this car a very muscular appearance.

Here are the final editors words:

After one very long day testing these three boxes back-to-back over a variety of road conditions, each car’s unique personality bubbled to the surface. The Cube S is the roomy and hip city car. The Scion xB is the powerful long-distance hauler. And the Soul Sport is the canyon carver of the group. Picking a winner is never easy.

But this time, the edge goes to Kia. The speed, both in a straight line and on a windy road, the efficiency and the overall grin-inducing persona of the Soul Sport made it our favorite. Follow the link to read the rest of the comparison test.

Kia No 3 Concept Car

In anticipation of next month’s Geneva Auto Show, Kia released three more images of it’s all-new mini-MPV concept car. Dubbed the Kia No3 concept, this all-new stunning show car from Kia Motors promises to be impressive looking and also fun-to-drive.

Penned by Kia’s European design team, under the leadership of design guru Peter Schreyer, the No3 concept features a new Kia family face and puts a H-shapped front grille, LED-technology equipped head-lamps and brand’s corporate logo in a new constellation.

The concept also features a panoramic glass roof extending up over the rear passangers with a diagonal supporting bar and an electric sun visor. Finished in matt Titanium Grey with contrasting gloss-white accents, the No3 measures 4045 mm long (13.27 ft) in length -ideal size for urban traffic- and also packs a set of funky looking 19-inch alloy-wheels.

Following the introduction of the production-ready model at the Frankfurt Show this September, the Kia YN will go on sale in Europe in early of 2010.

Kia will put it’s No3 concept on display at this year’s Geneva Auto Show alongside Kia cee’d ISG, cee’d hybrid and 18 other vehicles, including facelifted Optima/Magentis and Sportage. It’s world premiere is scheduled for Tuesday, March 3rd ( at 12.15 PM) at the Kia booth in hall 5. More images: Kia No3

Kia cee’d ISG, cee’d hybrid, No3 concept

In addition to the striking No3 concept, Kia will also be displaying a slew of it’s production and near production models at the booth in Geneva. Kia plans to bring a slew of 18 vehicles to the 79th Salon International de l’Auto, including Soul urban crossover, facelifted Sportage and upgraded, 2009 Magentis sedan, all three making their first appearance in Switzerland.

Taking the center stage will of course be the new Kia show-stopper, a concept car named No3, which previews the new mini-MPV from Kia Motors. The model is scheduled to debut in it’s final production form at the end of the year, possibly at the 2009 Frankfurt Motors show.

Kia cee’d ISG

Put on display along-side the No3 concept will also be the all-new cee’d ISG, which sales has commenced in February. The cee’d ISG features an innovative and eco-friendly technology system called Idle Stop&Go that automatically switches the engine off when the car is stopped or moving at speeds lower than 4km/h and restarts the engine instantly when the driver wishes to move off.

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Kia Motors reported a sales decline in the first month of 2009. It’s global sales of passenger cars, recreation vehicles and light trucks in January 92,311 units, representing a 10% fall compared to January 2008.

By model, Kia’s best selling vehicle in global markets in January was the “soon to be replaced” C-segment Spectra with 15,898 units sold. It was followed by Sportage compact SUV and the B-segment Rio with 10,429 and 10,144 units sold, respectively. Meanwhile, the C-segment cee’d came in fourth place with 6,741 units and the A-segment Picanto rounds out the group with 5,234 units.

By region, North America, General markets and South Korea experienced sales gains in January. General markets experienced the largest gain with 19,075 units (+15.4%), while 23,921 units were sold in North America (+ 3.3%) and 22,056 were sold in Korea (+0.1%).

Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of the International Business Division, said, “Kia Motors continues to scrupulously monitor and manage its business during these challenging economic times. This month, North America experienced steady growth, while other automakers reported substantial losses. With our new Soul urban crossover and next-generation Cerato (to be known as Forte in the USA) becoming fully available in many markets early this year, we are confident that Kia Motors will continue to grow throughout 2009.”

Vanilla Shake Kia Soul

With the official Kia Soul sales commencing in the beginning of March, Kia dealers have been building up their inventories over the past few weeks and making sure they have enough Souls once crowds of people start bouncing in.

On Saturday, I visited one of the shopping malls in Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia) and grabbed an opportunity to visit KMAG - Slovenian Kia headquarters, located only a few yards from the shopping center, to check if they already placed the Soul on their showroom floor.

None was found in the showroom, but they had two models parked in front of the building. One of them was coated in Vanilla Shake color, while the other one was colored in black and featured a silver Dragon tatoo. Both were equipped with 18-inch alloy wheels and some optional accessories.

Here are a few images of the Vanilla Shake Kia Soul that I had taken.

Click image to enlarge!

2010 Kia Sorento XM teaser image

Kia Motors has released the first official image of it’s next generation Sorento crossover, codenamed XM, today. In addition to that, the company has also revealed some details on it’s second generation Sorento crossover.

The 2010 Kia Sorento will build on the success of the current model by offering a fresh new exterior look, the whole new interior design and an array of fuel-efficient technologies, including a brand-new 2.2L diesel engine (R-engine) developed in conjunction with Hyundai Motor Company.

New engines

The all-new 2.2L R-engine unit brings in the latest diesel engine technology and consecutively, the the world class performance, class-leading fuel economy numbers and achieves the EURO-5 compliancy. It features a third generation common rail system with piezo-electric injectors to deliver fuel at 1800-bar and an electronic variable geometry turbocharger and is coupled with a diesel particulate filter.

The 2.2L R-engine packs impressive 200 horsepower and 435Nm of torue and has an estimated fuel economy of 14,1L/km or 33MPG (7l/100km)! That makes the new Sorento even more fuel-efficient than i’s smaller sibling, the Sportage compact SUV!

Power will also come from a variety of other diesel and gasoline engines, including the 2.4L four-cylinder (Theta II) engine and the 3.8L six-cylinder (Lambda) engine that produces 270+ horsepower. Kia also plans to introduce the new Sorento with a 2.7L LPI (Liquefied Petroleum Injection) engine on Korean market.

Unibody platform

New generation Sorento will feature a six-speed automatic transmission, also developed together with Hyundai. The same fuel-saving six-speed tranny will be applied to majority of future Kia vehicles to come in the near future.

Another major technical change that comes together with the new tranny and engine will be the unibody architecture, which will replace the existing body-on-frame platform, meaning the ride and handling will be improved dramatically.

The 2010 Kia Sorento is set to go on sale in Korea shortly after it makes an official Korean unveiling, scheduled for the upcoming Seoul Motor Show in April, while it’s US sales is expected to commence by the end of this year.

UPDATE: production ready Kia Sorento:  2010 Kia Sorento

440-horsepower Kia cee’d BTCS

The image of a “Super cee’d” race-car, posted here at our Kia Blog on Friday, has spawn an interesting debate and generated quite some buzz among all of us, Kia fans. We had no idea where to put the vehicle and it kept us guessing of it’s main purpose until tody.

Some of you have suggested the car pictured below was a scale model or possibly a toy. And you were right… partially. The supercee’d pictured on the image has been a scale model, which was later used to develope the body parts for a real-life cee’d BTCS race car.

So, what is this “super cee’d” all about? Thanks to our Belgian colleagues and their juicy tips, we have learned some exclusive details on the hot-looking cee’d BTCS:

The track inspired cee’d BTCS has been developed by Chad Racing, a famous UK based racing group specialized in the highest levels of racing. With this particular Kia cee’d BTCS model, the Chad Racing has teamed up with Kia Motors Belgium to participate in the 2009 Belgium Touring Car Series. The team will be running two Kia cars in the top S1 class and compete against Bimmers (M3’s), Renault Meganes and others.

The chassis of the Kia Pro_cee’d BTCS is a tubular spaceframe, built by the Pescarolo Le Mans team. The car features a highly stressed 2.0L racing engine, developed by Mountune company, and is believed to have an output of 440 horsepower. The whole race-car weighs less than 1000kg.

All the suspension components are unique to the car and designed as a pure racing suspension system.

The cee’d BTCS also uses a built-in tracking and monitoring system. The Motec data logging system is highly advanced, featuring GPS speed and mapping functions that allow the driver to see his exact racing lines (accurate to within 0.5m) on the circuit.

The quantity of data available can help the drivers in many ways, from braking technique to steering input. The accuracy of the GPS system allows the entire supporting team to use the predictive lap time function, which enables the driver to get as close as possible to the BTCS target lap time limit.

The world premiere for this stunning Kia cee’d BTCS will take place on the 27th of March at the legendary F1-race track at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Stay tuned for some hot news coming in soon! Tip: Join our Kia Forum to find more about the race car in the near future!!

Click image to enlarge!

Link: slovenski kia forum

Do you guys have any idea of what this could be? Is Kia preping to go racing and join some track-racing series such as BTTC ( British Touring Car Championship )? Don’t have any idea and have never heard of anything like that, but that wouldn’t hurt Kia’s sporty image, right!?

With it’s latest four-door compact sedan, joining the US line-up in the summer this year, Kia wants to play it loud. Fresh and modern styling, roomy interior, advanced powertrain technology and a ton of cool new features are some of the qualities that Kia Forte will use to fight against it’s main Japanese and US rivals.

Replacing Spectra sedan, the Forte is set to at least repeat it’s predecessor’s sales results, achieved over the past few years, but Kia’s officials (and us Kia fans) are hoping Forte can do it’s job even better.

We have published an official Forte press release, issued by Kia Motors America yesterday, that includes Forte’s engine options, vehicle specifications, trim levels, estimated MPG numbers, warranty information, … well pretty much everything one would like to know about a brand new vehicle.

Except of one thing, the press pack lacks pricing and sales date details. Well, it’s still too early for the pricing information, but it is expected to be announced closer to Forte’s sales date. The Forte sedan is slated to arrive in U.S. showrooms by late spring or early summer of this year.

To continue our Chicago Auto Show reports, I’d like to share with you this video, tapped during the official unveiling ceremony of the 2010 Kia Forte. It’s an interesting video featuring a Chicago-blues-band playing an intro “Kia song” and Tom Loveless providing all the juicy Forte details to the media. Have a look and enjoy!

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2010 US-spec Kia Forte sedan

Kia Motors America has released an extensive official press pack for it’s 2010 US-spec Kia Forte sedan ahead of it’s official US debut - slated for the 2009 Chicago Auto Show (starting on February 13th).

First of all, it has been officially announced that from now on, Kia’s all-new compact sedan, which will replace the Spectra, is going to be renamed to Forte. Until last, Kia has kept us guessing whether the Spectra name will be retained or replaced by a brand-new nomenclature. Now we know…

The all-new “head-turning” Forte sedan (pronounced for-tay) blends Kia’s exciting new design direction under the tutelage of Kia Motors’ chief design officer Peter Schreyer,  who has joined Kia in 2006 and has been responsible to incorporate a unique and distinctive styling to all future Kia models ( including Forte) .

“The Forte is an aggressively stylish blend of comfort and practicality – and with a host of standard features it provides the great quality and value that consumers have come to expect from Kia vehicles,” said B.M. Ahn, president and CEO of Kia Motors America and KMMG.

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Kia Soulster production considered

Kia unveiled the Soulster concept car as a design study at this year’s North American International Auto Show to demonstrate the flexibility of the original design. Like many other concept cars, the Soulster was not intended to be produced but the vehicle has seen such a remarkable public response that the automaker is now seriously considering to bring the two-door pickup truck into the mass production.

When speaking with Automotivenews, Mr. Alex Fedorak - Director of Public Relations at Kia Motors America- revealed the Soulster concept created plenty of buzz among 2009 NAIAS attendees and the public response was so overwhelming that the company has decided the Soulster needs a closer look. “It is clearly a vehicle that was built as a concept in a fashion that was production-capable. We have been doing that more and more lately.” said Alex.

The sun-loving open-air Soulster concept car has been built on the 2010 Kia Soul, which goes on sale in US market on March 1st. Kia’s compact pick-up ute is a front-wheel-drive vehicle powered by 1.6L four-cylinder engine and coupled with five-speed manual transmission. Since the Soulster has been built with the same powertrain technology as production ready Kia Soul, it can also be fitted with a more powerful 2.0L engine.

At this point, the Soulster concept vehicle has not yet been green lighted and also no time frame has been given for a decision for the production model, but once decision made, we could see the Soulster making it to the market within a year or two. [Photosource: Leftlanenews]

UPDATE: Since Kia has been considering to develope the Soulster, I think you could share some of your thoughts on the vehicle and perhaps suggest Kia something that you’d like to see on a production model.

You know, Kia bosses have been reading our blog and they might find some of your suggestions very useful!

Kia YN concept

As anticipated, Kia released the first teaser image of it’s forthcoming concept car which is slated to debut at the upcoming Geneva Auto Show at the beginning of March. The YN concept car belongs to the group of sub-compact mini-MPVs, a vehicle segment that has seen spurring sales in recent years particularly on European car market.

A stunning Kia YN concept vehicle was penned by a car-design guru Peter Schreyer and is expected to redefine the mini MPV segment by bringing style and cool to what is currently a bland segment of the new car market. According to Kia, the YN concept will feature a dramatic glass-roof treatment and will provide astounding spaciousness in a compact package.

The world premiere of Kia YN concept car will be taking place at the 2009 Salon de l’Automobile in Geneva (Switzerland) with the official press conference scheduled for 12.45pm. [Source: Kia] Find more information and spy shots on the 2010 Kia YN here.