It's looking like South Korean automaker Kia's answer to the Scion xB or xD, the production version of the all-new Soul, will be unveiled at the Paris auto show in October.
Production of the vehicle begins in South Korea in September, and the car is expected to go on sale in the fourth quarter.
It's definitely a car whose time has come. With a fuel-efficient four-cylinder engine, relatively small exterior and a surprisingly roomy interior, the Soul will offer an alternative to the SUV to consumers battered by the high gasoline prices.
Nissan is planning to introduce its own version of a small, fuel-efficient vehicle with a similar boxy body style, the Cube, sometime next year. The Soul, though, will arrive first.
Kia announced recently that the car would retain the "Soul" name from the original concept vehicle, which was introduced at the Detroit auto show in January 2006, and the three Soul concepts that were shown at the Geneva auto show in Switzerland a few months ago.
In announcing the name, Kia also released the first official photo of the production version of the Soul, whose name is a play on the name of the city that is headquarters to Kia Motors Corp. in South Korea -- Seoul.
"Reaction from the media and public to the three Soul concept cars first unveiled at the Geneva Show in March and shown subsequently at other international events, has been overwhelmingly positive," said Hyoung-Keun Lee, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Kia's International Business Division.
"This reaction, plus the fact that both physically and emotionally the Soul concept cars are so closely related to the new Kia Soul production car, made it a natural choice to retain this evocative name," he said.
Lee said the Soul concepts revealed "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," he said. "This new model will reach out to a new group of consumers, appealing especially to the young and the young-at-heart."
The Soul looks like it might be somewhere in between the original Scion models, the less boxy xA hatchback and the cube-styled, slightly larger xB. The xA was replaced last year by the xD, and the xB got a restyling that made it longer and roomier, but somewhat less boxy than the original.
Similarly, the xA and xB were the first models in Toyota's 2004 launch of its youth-oriented Scion brand, whose role was to lower the median age of the buyers of Toyota automobiles.
The xB, while appealing to the target under-35 male demographic as Toyota had planned, also has turned out to have a much broader reach -- the people Kia describes as the "young at heart." It has been a favorite of the empty-nester baby boomers just as much as the under-35 crowd.
The xA and xD have a different audience and generally appeal more to women than men.
Kia's European design team created the three Geneva concepts -- the Soul Burner, Soul Diva and Soul Searcher -- the company said. That team was led by Gregory Guillaume, under the guidance of Peter Schreyer, Kia's design chief.
All three, though, were based on the original Soul concept, which was designed jointly by the company's California and South Korea design studios for the 2006 Detroit show.
Kia says that Schreyer "strongly endorsed" using Soul as the name for the production vehicle.
"The name Soul accurately reflects how people will be able to express their spirit, their psyche with this new product."
The Soul "defies classification, but its design will encourage customers to build an emotional bond with this rebellious new car," the automaker said, adding that the Soul "provides a creative platform for buyers to individualize and match their car to their own personalities."
That ability for owners to express themselves will come from a variety of options, accessories and colors offered for the vehicle, Kia said. Toyota offers the same kind of personalization with its Scion vehicles, something that is quite popular with young consumers.
No further details of the production car have been released yet, but we can expect it to come with a four-cylinder engine and a choice of manual or automatic transmission, with fuel economy probably ranging from the mid-20s in the city to the mid-30s on the highway.
The boxy shape will allow for five passengers and some limited cargo, but the interior will be reconfigurable to carry more cargo (and fewer people) when necessary.
Standard features probably will include front seat-mounted side and two-row side-curtain air bags, air conditioning, electronic stability control, tire-pressure monitoring, antilock brakes and more. Options will include power windows/mirrors/door locks, a variety of audio systems and other amenities.
No prices have been announced yet, either, but the Scion xD begins around $15,000 and the xB around $16,000. The Soul will have to be competitive.
By G. Chambers Williams III
San Antonio Express-News
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