Latest sales reports from Kia show that Soul crossover continues to perform very well in the North American market and it’s sales numbers continue to climb each month. Just like the Soul, our Kia Soul Forums have been dooing great as well.

Since the forum has been put on-line - in December 2008-, more than 1,600 Soul owners joined the board already, which is absolutely amazing. It has grown fast and already became the largest Kia Soul owner community in the world.

Since April, we have been running the Soul of the month competition in the forums and so far we have got 5 winners, all from Canada! The winner of August 2009 Soul of the month competition is denim_guy and his funky looking Denim Kia Soul with Dragon tatoo. He has joined our Soul forum in June and has been one of the most active forum members since then.

I’d like to thank him for joining us at the forums and also congratulate him for the win! Here is his honorable interview:

1. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul? I saw it driving by my local dealer in mid April. Our lease was going to be up soon on our other car and I told her she had to come with me and see this Soul. We went the next day and the rest is history!

2. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far? We’ve had it since April and we are soooo in love with it. The looks, the handling, the comfort, the practicality and the price were a combination we couldn’t refuse.

3. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul? I’m a big guy, so it’s hard to find a small car that is roomy enough. The Soul fit the bill in spades.

4. Did you name your Soul? My wife has officially named her “Lola”. She’s a naughty little temptress apparently.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people? Well, we loved the denim color from day one. And once we put on the dragon decal, well, lets just say we turn some heads. The mpg and roominess really impress as well.

6. What are your plans as far as modifications? Are you interested in that at all? Well, already changed the outside appearance a bit, but I can see new wheels in my future.

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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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A week ago we interviewed our fellow friend Cynthia, a member of Kiasoulforums dot com, who presented her Soul ownership experiences so far and revealed to us some thoughts on her Lava Kia Soul. She has been crowned as a May 2009 Soul Of The Month winner, our second round of monthly competition.

With some delay, we are now bringing you the honorable interview with Todd, the Soul owner who became the very first winner of the Soul Of The Month competition. His black Kia Soul Burner 4U has been picked by forum members as a favourite Soul ride in the month of April 2009.  

1. How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul?
I originally had heard about the Soul when it was a concept via the internet then read somewhere that it was released.

2. How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experiences so far?
I have had my Soul for over a month and a half and absolutely love it. My giant ego loves the fact that people constantly stare at it and point:)

3. If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
Besides the overall looks of the Soul it definitely was the ‘complete package’ and value.

4. Did you name your Soul?
I haven’t but that doesn’t mean I wont. Just havent had the opportunity to do so yet.

5. Can you tell us some interesting comments that you have heard about your ride from friends, family and other people?
Besides my wife who pretends not to like it…I think she is jelous as I love my Soul probably too much, everyone I speak with is blown away by the car. I manage a bank and I have had at least ten clients ask me to take them out to the car for a closer look….too funny.

Continue your read after the jump and find out more about the mods that Todd installed so far and read what he thinks about Kia cars. 

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Cynthia Mitchel comes from Canada and has bought herself a brand-new Kia Soul crossover about six weeks ago. A while ago, she has joined our fast growing Kia Soul community and soon aferwards she has been nominated to enter the Soul of the month competition.

Soul of the month competition is run at Kia Soul Forum during the last week of each month when forum members vote and pick their favourite Kia Soul ride. So far, we have had two Soul of the month competitions; the first one (April ‘09) was won by a member Imapfsr, while the second one (May 2009) was won by Lava Girl (Cynthia Mitchell).

The winner of the Soul of the month competition gets a $ million prize in cash* and a honorable interview published at the KIA-WORLD blog! Here’s the first in a series of interviews where Cynthia talks about her Soul and ownership experience so far. Enjoy your read! *that was a joke obviously :)  

How and when did you find out about the Kia Soul?
I saw the commercials on tv. At first I didn’t really pay any attention to them and then one day I did. It was the msrp starting price that sold me.

How long have you owned your Soul and what are your experinces so far?
I have had my soul for 6 weeks today.

If you had to pick one thing what was it that really sold you on the Kia Soul?
Uniqueness!!!

Follow the link to read more! 

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The US online magazine Post-gazette had an interview with Chief Designer of Kia Design Center America, Mr. Tom Kearns, during the grand opening of the new state-of-the-art Kia Design Center America.

Prior to joining Kia, Tom worked for GM, where he oversaw the design and development of the Cadillac CTS. When he joined Kia, he was hired as a chief designer. Since then, he created some of the best looking Kia concept cars including the original Soul concept, award winning KUE crossover and the stunning Kia KOUP concept.

Here are some key points out of the interview:

- Chiefs in Korea realize that design is one of the key components that Kia needs to become one of the leading automotive brands.

- At the moment, some Kia cars lack more personality.

- The future design will be more emotional.

- The Soul has a big fun factor to it and is something that’s different. Hopefully, it’s something that you look at and find desirable to own and drive.

- The KOUP is designed to be a very affordable front-wheel-drive sporty coupe that could get a turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

Proceed here to read the interview.

Kia-World talks with Kia Motors (UK) Ltd., Communications Director Stephen Kitson about the recent sneak-drive of the three stunning SOUL concepts for lucky journalists from Britain and Germany.

Steve, Concept cars are often just for show – why were Kia able to let journalists drive SOUL?

Kia have a history of not just building concepts as flights of fancy – our concept cars tend to be much more closely linked to reality, so when the Design Team in Frankfurt decided to showcase their ideas for SOUL they used actual pre-production vehicles. That meant the cars had all the running gear of a normal car and luckily Peter Schreyer said yes when we and Kia Deutschland asked if a lucky few journalists could spend some time behind the wheels.

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Just-Auto.com published an interesting interview with Mr. Paul Willis, who was recently appointed as COO of Kia Motors Europe (KME). Together with Kwang Ho Nam, President of KME, he will be responsible for automakers growth in Europe in the the next few years. Let’s see what he told to David Legget, (Just-Auto.com):

DL: How do you see Kia’s sales volume evolving in 2008?
PW: In 2008 in Western Europe we want to sell around 300,000 cars - up from about 266,000 last year. In order to do that we have some additional models that we didn’t have last year. There’s the Cee’d sporty wagon, which has been particularly well received in Germany and other countries in mainland Europe. And we have just launched the new 3-door in the last few weeks.

We want to progress, we want to develop our volume and develop our market share and establish Kia as a brand across Europe. (more…)

The Kee sports coupe was one of the best looking concept cars at Frankfurt’s Motor Show. Receiving nothing but praise and positive comments in Europe, Kia decided bringing it to L.A. Auto Show to get additional feedback on it’s design.

Unfortunately the Kee concept car never made it to L.A.! The Kee was damaged while beeing transported to the auto show scene. Acording to Kia, the damage was too big and impossible to repair, that’s why they were forced to send it back to Europe to get repaired.

While searching for additional information on Kee accident I found a sweet video where Kee is beeing driven. A few lucky car journalists had actualy a chance to take a spin in it. Let’s hear their findings on Kia Kee! (Video also includes a short interview with Kia’s Chief designer, Peter Schreyer!)

The most exciting moment for me as a designer is to get the first reactions on our new developed products, like now for the Borrego.The Borrego will be our key to entering the traditional full-size SUV segment and a strong statement of Kia´s intent to attract new costumers.

Along with our well established Sportage and Sorento models, the Borrego will round out our SUV line-up and enable Kia to satisfy distinctly different customers ranging from the young, hip and cool to those searching for a more premium appeal.

With the Borrego we will enter into an SUV segment that attracts a more refined target group. This consumer group embraces clean, pure design and associates it with an aspiration for timeless value and quality. (more…)