L.A. Auto Show: Kia Soul -- outside the box?
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At its L.A. Auto Show debut this morning, Kia vice president of sales Tom Loveless called the new Soul compact, due in the spring, the company’s ‘halo car,’ and ‘a brand-defining vehicle.’ Its style, he said, ‘simply didn’t fit a single category.’
Funny, but when the curtains were pulled up, we saw another member of the increasingly popular Rolling Toaster school of boxy design, kicked off in the U.S. with the Scion XB and larger iterations of the style such as the Honda Element and more recently, the Ford Flex.
In fact, Kia’s spec sheet says the Soul ‘defies categorization,’ then identifies its key competition: Scion XB and XD, Nissan Cube.
Yes, it fits right in with those models marketed to youngsters but often purchased by an older crowd that actually finds the cavernous, boxy interiors useful for hauling children, pets and their bulky accouterments.
These are a different kind of crossover, spanning generations rather than car categories. One of the Souls at Kia’s launch, for instance, featured black-and-white checkerboard Vans shoes graphics -- a design enjoying a renaissance with youngsters born after Jeff Spicoli was long gone from movie theaters.
Intentionally or not, Kia’s news conference stuck to the old-person’s-view-of-a-young-person’s sensibility theme. Loveless spoke in front of video monitors showing his teenage twins instant messaging via webcam. ‘He can buy me 1 when I Gradu8,’ keyed Loveless’s son.
This mid-40ish parent found it adorable, like the car with the Vans stickers. But will a 25-year-old smell fishy marketing? Will it matter?
Loveless said all trim levels of the Soul would be priced ‘in the teens’ -- though more precise figures weren’t available. So whatever else can be said about it, the price should be right for youngsters working their way up the income scale, or older folks who must spend their money on things other than cars.
The new halo car is front-wheel-drive, seats five and offers two four-cylinder engines, rated at 122 or 142 hp. It rides on a front-strut suspension with a torsion bar in the rear. Fuel economy specs were not included in the news conference info. Transmission choices are a five-speed manual and four-speed automatic.
Kia also played up its improved hydrogen-fueled Borrego SUV. Kia says its new fuel-cell electric system gives the vehicle better cold-weather starting performance and a greatly extended range.
The Borrego has a range of 426 miles. With its 154 hp powertrain moving more than 5,000 pounds (4,960 curb weight plus a driver presumably weighing more than 40 pounds), the SUV moves from 0 to 60 in 12.8 seconds.
-- Peter Y. Hong