Revealing the front fascia of the 2010 Kia cee’d facelift along with new headlight and tail-lamp design.

The upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show will host a premiere of the highly anticipated Kia cee’d facelift. Kias best selling car in Europe, which successfully competes against European finest C-segment hatchbacks such as VW Golf, Opel Astra and Ford Focus, is set to undergo some major styling updates.

Styling makeover will not only affect the five-door cee’d hatchback, but also other two sibling models in the cee’d family. Both, the three-door pro_cee’d and cee’d Sporty Wagon will receive exterior and interior styling updates for the 2010 model year.

As previous spy shots suggested, the new Kia cee’d has received a number of modifications but heavy camouflage, attached to the front and rear fascia, prevented us from seeing those newly designed exterior parts. 

The exterior of the revised Kia cee’d will feature a heavily redesigned front fascia, which will provide the car a sharper and sportier appearance. New to the 2010 model year Kia cee’d will be the H-shaped signature grille, known also as “tiger nose”, redesigned black-bezel headlamps and updated front bumper with larger air intake. The 2010 Kia cee’d will also sport new side mirrors with turn signals and restyled LED taillights. Thanks for the pics Aidem!

2010 Kia cee’d facelift images deleted on request of Kia Motors Korea!

The very popular Kia Soul Forum has the fifth Kia Soul Of The Month competition in the running at the moment. This is a monthly competition, where members of the Soul community select three buddies and their Souls and then vote for the best looking ride. Voting results are revealed at the end of each month and the winner of a competition gets a honorable interview published here at our Kia blog.

Here we have the latest honorable interview with Gail, the winner of June 2009 Soul Of The Month competition. She owns a great looking Kia Soul 4U coated in attractive Lava exterior color, which is also known as Cocktail Orange in some markets. Her hot-looking Soul ride is powered by 2.0L engine mated to 4-speed automatic transmission.

Gail has joined Kia Soul Forums in April and has been one of the most active Soul owners on the board. Her Soul looks very unique thanks to colorful flower graphics and a set of black 18-inch alloy wheels. It also features a bug deflector attached to the front fascia, which guards her Soul of the “bugfest”, eyeliners and window sport visors.

Congrats again to you Gail and your June 2009 Soul Of The Month win! It’s been great to having you at the site! Keep up with great work and let us updated on additional modifications that you implement to your funky ride.     

1. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul?
I received an invitation from the dealership announcing the arrival of the SOUL on March 11 and to come in and have a look.

2. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far?
I bought my SOUL on March 11 and took possession of it on April 25th. I love the uniqueness of the SOUL. It really attracts attention and turns a lot of heads!

3. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
The roominess of the interior and the sunroof! I just loved my old Sportage and the SOUL reminded me of it.

4. Did you name your Kia Soul?
Amelia aka My Tropical SOUL.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people?
Everyone loves the colour! “It definitely won’t get lost in a parking lot!” All the features that came with the model…awesome sound system, roominess, and one interesting thing people have said is that the SOUL looks like it’s mine…

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In addition to latest Kia cee’d spy shots, we also received a very interesting rendering of Kia Soulster to the e-mail box today. The concept car, which has just recently been awarded the 2009 Concept Truck of the year is expected to make it to the market by the end of the 2010. Here’s an interesting rendering which showcases how Soulster could look like in its production form. The rendering was made by “GY3 Tuning“.

Exclusive Kia spy shots; 2010 Kia cee’d to feature a refreshed interior and updated exterior. Official debut scheduled for September 15th! 

As we are getting closer to release date of Kia cee’d facelift (scheduled for September) we also get more images popping up to the web. Two days ago, automotive media released a handful of Kia cee’d spy shots, which has been spied “shakedown” testing on the very famous Nurburgring in Germany, while today, we are bringing you the very first set of spy shots revealing the revised interior of the 2010 Kia ceed!

It was previously thought the 2010 Kia cee’d will only receive updates made to the exterior, but we can now prove that cee’d’s interior is also going to benefit from styling tweaks and updates.

Interior of the revised Kia cee’d gains a silver accentuated, leather-wrapped, steering-wheel which features a myriad of audio control buttons. It also gets updated gauges and revised center stack with new audio unit.

The 2010 Kia cee’d will be officially unveiled at the upcoming 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show in September and will go on sale in Europe by the end of the year. Thanks for the pics Aidem!    

Interior images of the 2010 Kia cee’d removed on request of Kia Motors!

Kia cee’d to receive a facelift this fall. A heavily camouflaged prototype spotted at the very famous Nurburgring in Germany. 

This year marks three years since Kia first introduced the five-door cee’d hatchback to consumers in Europe. Created especially for European consumers, Kia’s new C-segment model marked a major turning point in the history of Korean second largest carmaker. The cee’d has been the first-ever Kia model that was designed, engineered and manufactured in Europe.

It’s also the first Korean car that received maximum five stars at EuroNCAP crash tests and has made the finals of European Car Of The Year (COTY) awards. And the list of accolades does not end here. 

And now, three years since its introduction, the impressive Kia cee’d is coming in for a mid-cycle facelift. Spied while testing on the very famous Nurburgring, these latest spy shots reveal the 2010 cee’d will receive a plethora of exterior styling tweaks.

In front, the cee’d is expected to get a whole new front fascia, including Kia’s H-shapped signature grille and redesigned headlights, while changes at rear are foing to include a pair of subtly redesigned tail-lights. The interior is also expected to benefit from a mid-cycle refresh with an emphasis on quality to make the model even more appealing for the customers in Europe.

The 2010 Kia cee’d facelift will make its official European premiere at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show this fall, with sales projected to commence shortly afterwards. [Source: Autovandaag.nl]

The highly acclaimed open-air Soulster concept car, which has been unveiled to the public by Kia Motors America during the 2009 North American International Auto Show, has received the 2009 Concept Truck of the Year award!

The North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards awarded concept cars in four different categories: Concept Cars, Concept Truck, Specialty Concept Vehicle and Production Preview Vehicle. This year, a jury of automotive journos selected the concept car winners from 23 concept vehicles and 11 production preview vehicles that debuted during the 2009 North American Auto Show season.

Honored for its beach-ready prowess and attractive design, the Soulster has been awarded the 2009 Concept Truck of the year, making it the first concept car produced by Kia that received the highly coveted Concept Vehicle of the Year Award.

“It is an honor for the Soulster to be named Concept Truck of the Year, and further proof that Kia’s global commitment to design is dramatically altering the brand’s image and consumer’s opinion of our company and our vehicles.” told Tom Kearns, chief designer, Kia Design Center America in the official statement.

In the Concept Car category the award was given to Volkswagen’s BlueSport Roadster, while Cadillac Converj and Karma Sunset concepts took awards in the Specialty Concept Vehicle and Production Preview Vehicle categories.

About Kia Soulster concept

A two-door concept with roadster roots, the brightly colored Soul’r yellow Soul’ster projects a hip industrial look with screw borders, reminiscent of a rivet design found on a fighter jet. The windshield is shortened for a sportier and hunkered down appearance.

A two-piece top enables passengers to expose the front and back seating areas independently, using elbow-grease technology. The roll bar serves a dual purpose and includes a place for the slider tracks, while providing protection not found in traditional convertibles.   

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Kia released the 2010 model year Soul Denim Special Edition, available in exlusive “Denim” exterior color. Production limited to 1.200 units. Available at starting price of $17.300

Kia Motors America released information and details on the all-new, special edition Soul model line, the 2010 Denim Kia Soul. The 2010 model year Kia Soul Special Edition will consist of a combination of unique exterior color and various factory installed accessories.

Exclusive to Kias Special Edition compact crossover is a unique exterior color called “Denim”, while white painted side-view mirrors with matching white 18-inch alloy wheels and bold off-set white racing stripe complete its rally-inspired exterior look. In addition to that, Kia Soul Special Edition also benefits from a wing-type rear spoiler and front fender turn signal indicator lights.

The 2010 Soul Special Edition is based on the Soul+ model and includes audio and moonroof upgrade package as well as a set of front fog-lights. Interior is all black, while seats received the Soul logo inserts. Additionally, Soul Special Edition also gets floor mats and iPod cable.

Pricing starts at $17.300 for the five-speed manual transmission equipped Soul, and $18,250 with an automatic. According to Kia, production for the Soul Special Edition is going to be limited to only 1.200 units.

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Renowned Kelly’s Blue Book names the 2010 Kia Soul one of the top 10 cooloest cars for the year 2009! 

It was announced by Kia today that its 2010 Kia Soul has been named to the Top 10 Coolest New Cars Under $18.000! The Top ten coolest cars were selected by a renowned US automotive organization Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com, which is also known as one of the leading providers of new car information.

Among ten “cool cars” one can find all the main rivals of Kia Soul, including Nissan Cube, Scion xB and Honda Fit. Other cars named in the Top 10 coolest cars under $18 thousand were Smart Fortwo, Subaru Impreza, VW Rabbit (known as Golf in Europe), Mazda3, Suzuki Sx4 and Ford Focus.

There are many reasonable reasons to see the Soul, Cube, Scion and perhaps Honda Fit and Smart Fortwo named as “cool cars”. All of them are hip and cool, attractively styled and very different from the rest of the pretty much ordinary cars found on the market today.

In addition, all five afore-mentioned “cool cars” also come equipped with many fun features (like mood lightning audio speakers) and accessories (spoilers, vinyls, etc…), plus they are fun to drive and available at attractive prices.

And what is that, that makes Subaru Impreza, Suzuki Sx4 and Ford Focus cool? Honestly, I can’t find many reasons for them to be named in the top 10 “cool cars” for 2009. But, editorial team at Kelley Blue Book also used other criteria, such as safety ratings, fuel economy, interior size, comfort and technology. In fact, they used a very similar set of criteria that many consumers use in examining when in the market for new cars.

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KIA SOUL REVIEW by Vinylengraver

I’ve had my Kia Soul for over a month now and I thought I’d share my experiences with the prospective/future Soul buyers in hopes of answering most of the questions and easing some of the doubts they might have.

All the “professional” reviews that I was able to find before I bought my car were strangely similar – it seemed like everyone copied everyone else’s opinions and it was quite obvious none of the “experts” had actually driven the car for long, save for an occasional test run at a media-staged event.

It’s fairly obvious that only a few reviews available to this day were written by people who have honestly spent some time with the car and did not “recycle” what seem to be some “standard” views and opinions.

This is a personal review and it’s just that – I’m not a journalist or an automotive expert – just a real user with average keyboarding skills and some extra time to be used for the good of humanity. Time and space is limited, so enjoy it for what it is…

1. Exterior

“This Thing Is Surprisingly Cool!”

After I saw the Soul commercial on TV (yes, the one with the hamsters) I though – what a cool looking little car! Every time I travel to Europe I cannot help to think that here in North America we constantly get a short end of the stick.

The automotive variety found on the streets of Berlin, Paris or Rome is OVERWHELMING! So many great looking cars. And they are all different! All shapes and sizes, fun-filled, brilliant designs, vibrant colors…Seems that all we get here are black trucks, silver SUVs as well as gray Civics or Corolla’s.

Sometimes you see some recycled/re-badged leftover from a few years back they decided to bring over here in hopes of prolonging outdated model’s agony- some stale Suzuki/Chevrolet creations come to mind here… And then there is a Smart Car – the biggest automotive ripoff on earth… oh well.

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It’s not just us Kia owners that love the new Soul, but also two year olds that get really excited when they see it on the TV.

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Borrego SUV, Kias first entry in the full-size SUV market, brings home another prestigious accolade. After it has been selected as the “Best Kept Secret” in the Autobytel.com 2009 Editors’ Choice Awards and it has been given the “Best-in-class sport utility vehicle” award by New England Motor Press Association (NEMPA), the Borrego has now also been rated the top SUV in the $25.000 to $35.000 category by Edmunds.com consumers’ Top Rated Vehicle awards for 2009.

Kia reported that Borrego received high customer remarks for its overall excellent value, impressive fuel economy ratings, towing capabilities and an extensive list of standard features.

“As one of the first vehicles to roll out under Kia’s exciting new design direction, accolades such as this Edmunds.com award, which provides feedback directly from owners, are evidence of Kia’s commitment to consumers as well as to offering vehicles with the content consumers want without breaking the pocketbook.” wrote Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing @ Kia Motors America in the official statement. 

To determine the winners of the 19 vehicle categories, Edmunds.com invited owners to use the Consumer Reviews and Ratings feature, where they are able to evaluate their new or used vehicles in eight different categories, including performance, comfort, fuel economy, driving impressions, interior design, exterior design, build quality and reliability. Top-rated vehicles are those that received the highest average rating from visitors as of April 30.

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Following the official US unveiling, Kia Forte compact sedan has now been launched in China. Kia will build it at its brand-new China manufacturing plant owned by Kia Motors and Dongfeng Yueda company.    

Kia Motors announced today that it has launched the Forte compact sedan in China market. The official launching ceremony was held at Nanjing International Expo Centre in front of 600 invitees. The all-new Forte sedan made its first appearance at Shanghai Auto Show in April and it received rave reviews from local automotive media, as well as auto show visitors.

The China-built Forte has been praised for its refined and dynamic exterior design, ample interior space and cutting-edge features that surpass the local market’s expectations. The all-new Forte sedan is a very important car for Kia as the company wants to strengthen its presence in China market. With the slew of new models including Forte compact sedan, the company plans to establish itself as an affordable premium automaker and a leading car brand in the world’s largest car market.

The C-segment Forte sedan is a strategic model for the brand globally but also has a special significance in China where Kia has seen its new car sales increasing by more than 13 percent so far this year. The China-produced Forte will be sold under the name Fu-Rui-Di (sounds funny, doesn’t it!?) but according to Kia, the name combines Chinese characters for luck, auspiciousness and advance. The name alludes to a car designed for those who lead the road to success.

Kia will manufacture the new Forte sedan at one of its two China manufacturing plants in the Jiangsu province. When compared to the US-spec Forte sedan, the China-built model received some exterior and interior styling updates along with its convenience features to better satisfy the China consumer tastes.

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This is the very first video commercial for the 2010 Kia Forte Koup. Enjoy watching it!

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Kia global sales continue to grow. More than 141,900 Kia vehicles sold in May 2009 globally. Compact Spectra / Forte sedan still the best selling Kia model worldwide.

As you’ll see from the latest Kia sales report, the Korean second largest car company continues to perform very well in term of sales in the global markets. The company has today announced it has sold 141.949 vehicles around the world in May 2009, while its cumulative sales in the first five months of the fiscal year reached 590.934 units representing a 0.5 percent year-on-year increase when compared to the numbers from a year ago.

While major automakers have been all loosing ground, Kia (and its parent Hyundai Motor Company) continues to perform exceptionally well. The trend of positive sales at Kia is expected to continue with the launch of new models such as Kia Forte Koup, Picanto facelift, new Sorento and the upcoming luxury sedan codenamed Kia VG.

In the first five months of fiscal year, Kia’s best selling model overseas has been a four-door Spectra sedan, known also as Forte in the US market and Cerato in Australia. With 95.883 units sold so far the Spectra sedan sits a top of Kia sales chart. Far behind, in the second spot is the B-segment Rio with 60.780 units sold until now. 

The sub-compact Rio is followed closely by the Sportage compact SUV with 58.091 units sold and the C-segment cee’d with sales of 50.544. Rounding out the top five best selling Kias is the A-segment Picanto, which also continues to perform well. More than 35.950 units of Picanto were sold already this year.

In May 2009, Kia posted the largest year-on-year sales increases in China, where the company has sold 20.252 units. (+51.3 percent). Sales have also taken off in South Korea with 38.102 units, +44.0 percent) and general markets with 23.430 units (+13.0 percent).

Through May 2009, General markets experienced the largest gain, selling 110.289 units (+ 17.0%), while the Korean and Chinese markets showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 14.2 percent (146,518 units) and 13.5 percent (74,797 units), respectively. Cumulatively through the first five months of 2009, Kia’s global sales increased by 0.5 percent compared to a year earlier and reached 590.934 units.

In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia’s recreational vehicles achieved an increase of 24.6 percent year-on-year, selling 36.187 units in May.

2010 Kia Picanto/Morning goes on sale in South Korea. New model year improvements include radical styling revisions and technical updates.

Kia continues its new car onslaught in the South Korean market with the 2010 Picanto minicar. Known as Kia Morning in Korea, the 2010 Picanto is following the sporty two-door Kia Forte Koup, that has been officially unveiled to the Korean public at at COEX Mall in Seoul last week.

Kia Picanto has been Kia’s best selling model for the second straight year in Korea. For the 2010 model year, Kia Picanto received a batch of mid-cycle upgrades including some radical exterior and interior styling revisions along with technical upgrades such as improved engines and new transmission.

Among the most evident styling updates made to the 2010 Picanto is more aggressive front fascia that finally receives a Schreyer-designed chrome signature grille. Along with updated “tiger grille” the facelifted Picanto also gets a redesigned front bumper with larger air intakes, new fog lights design and black high-gloss garnish. At rear, mid-cycle changes include black-bezel tail-lamps and sportier rear bumper design.

The list of styling updates does not end here and also includes a set of redesigned, five-spoke alloy wheels, similar to those found on the Soul crossover. Attractively stylized alloys are wrapped into 15-inch rubber and provide Picanto a sportier exterior appearance. The facelifted Picanto also receives chrome fuel-door, body-color side moldings and side mirrors with turn signals.

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