Kia Soul News

Kia is set to join the fully electric vehicle space this year, with the fresh-faced 2015 Soul EV. The all-electric Soul made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this month, and Autoblog west coast editor Michael Harley had a chance to speak with Orth Hedrick, Kia's vice president of product planning, about the new electrified hatchback. In its ...

Earlier this week, we got our first glimpse of the 2015 Kia Soul EV out on the road, completely uncovered. And even before then, executive editor Chris Paukert had the opportunity to drive a camouflaged electric Soul prototype on Kia's home turf in Korea. But now, finally, officially, the electron-happy Soul makes its debut at the Chicago Auto ...

A few days before its on-stage reveal at the Chicago Auto Show, the production version of the 2015 Kia Soul EV has been spotted, tagged and bagged in this series of spy shots. On the EV captured by our photographer's lens, we can see unusual baby blue accents on top, on the mirrors and up front, as well as a closed-off "Tiger Nose" that is both taller and ...

The 2014 Soul has come on strong since its introduction, going so far as to become the Korean automaker's top-selling model last month, but Kia isn't wasting any time in creating a little extra excitement for its boxy hatchback. Although the name is a little wonky, the Kia Soul Red Zone marks the first special-edition model for the second-gen Soul, and ...

Spend a few days chatting with the good people of Seoul about their neighbors to the north, and you'll find a pattern emerges. When they first start talking, South Korea's citizenry speaks openly and ardently about seeking reunification with their North Korean brothers and sisters. Yet once you get beyond casual conversation, you'll find that those hopes ...

When Bob Dylan and his guitar-driven poetry embraced the amp in the mid-Sixties, he famously endured cries of "Judas!" from at least one dejected folkie. The Voice Of A Generation had gone electric, and apparently not all of his concert-goers were ready for the transition. We suspect the Kia Soul and its dancing hamsters will have an easier time of ...

SEMA has been pretty mellow this year in terms of over-the-top mod jobs. Sure, there have been some questionable choices, but none have been quite as questionable as the vehicle you see above. This is one of five versions of the redesigned Kia Soul that have been rolled out for the show, all of which take their inspiration from music. The Vans Warped ...

Kia has been toying with the notion of an electric vehicle for years now. In the two years since the Korean automaker revealed the Ray EV concept, rumors of a battery-powered production vehicle have persisted, evidenced most recently by spy shots showing an electric version of the Soul hatchback this past July. Now Kia has officially announced that the ...

Last month, Kia released a few photos of the European-market 2014 Soul ahead of its Frankfurt Motor Show reveal, and we happened to notice that the hamster box looked a bit different – a bit tougher. That's because Kia is adding an SUV Styling Pack to the car's options list, which includes the blacked-out lower fascias, wheel arches, side skirts and ...

Rounding Out The Market's Best Box As a car critic, you can tell a lot about a new car just by looking at a map. That's because more often than not, the geography of where a vehicle is initially launched will tell you a surprising amount about how the automaker feels about its new baby. Manufacturers want their models to be shown in the best light ...

The Soul is a massive success – no news there. We've just finished up in San Diego at the launch of the 2014 Kia Soul (sit tight for our First Drive next week), and we've learned a few things about the Korean automaker's box-car future. In the main, the Soul is a massive success – no news there – with Kia officials telling us that ...

Kia has announced pricing on the refreshed all-new 2014 Soul. At $14,700 (*plus a destination charge of $795), the funky box undercuts its two primary competitors, the Scion xB and Nissan Cube, by $2,850 and $2,060, respectively. That base model is available with 16-inch alloys, cruise control and wheel-mounted audio controls, and it comes with a ...

The 2014 Soul is bigger and more refined, and Kia says its look has been inspired in part by the Track'ster concept. Interestingly, European buyers will get the option of a different look than what we'll see in our showrooms. They'll be able to specify the SUV Styling Pack seen here, which includes matte-black cladding on the front and rear fascias, along ...

The lovable, anthropomorphic hamsters from Kia are known for electronic dance music, head bopping, and of course, a certain funktastic Korean box-on-wheels. With a new Soul on the way, the adorable rodents need to be ready to appear alongside the resculpted crossover. Only one thing could get them ready in time - cue the training montage. The commercial, ...

The funky Kia Soul is one of the three affordable, efficient and style-first boxes on sale today (along with the Scion xB and Nissan Cube). Like its competition, it sits atop a front-drive platform with a longitudinally mounted four-cylinder engine. It's a dandy car in this setup, but it sounds like Kia may be looking to differentiate the Soul from the ...

Up until now, we've only heard rumors about an all-electric version of the second-generation Kia Soul, but these spy shots seem to confirm that the Korean automaker is developing a zero-emission version of its quirky little box-back. Our most recent report has the Kia EV showing up in the first half of next year (likely for MY 2015) with a starting price ...

With company cousin Hyundai busy working on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Kia has said it will bring a battery-powered EV to market some time in 2014. We've seen the Ray EV (above), but that was a limited-run production vehicle destined for fleets in Korea. The follow-up is the electrified Soul, and if you're looking for some completely unverified rumors ...

In what is likely the largest recall campaign for Hyundai and Kia, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall of more than 1.6 million models due to a faulty brake switch. This is in addition to almost 700,000 Hyundai and Kia models recalled for the same problem back in 2009. In more than 620,000 Kia models and 1 million ...

The 2014 Kia Soul has been unveiled at the 2013 New York Auto Show, and the all-new five-door box-on-wheels offers up nearly an extra inch of wheelbase and a track that's wider by .6 inches. The changes offer up a bit more space indoors, and since overall height has remained the same, the Soul now looks a bit less top heavy than before. A wider rear hatch ...

Summarizing the results of research carried out by Edmunds, Reuters reports that consumers' are less inclined to purchase cars from Hyundai and Kia due to the company's recent snafu over inflated mileage claims. The Edmunds metric of "purchase intent" declined by 1.9 percent for the Kia Soul (pictured), meaning that the largest drop in consideration ...