Soul and Koup to add spice to Kia line-up

Stylish and Kia in the same sentence? You had better get used to it -- the Korean brand has confirmed it will launch both its funky Soul five-door and an all-new Cerato based two-door coupe onto the Australia market this year.

The confirmation of the arrival of Soul and the new two-door, to be called Koup, came at yesterday's local launch of the new four-door Cerato sedan.

Though details are still sketchy on the two-door coupe, Kia Australia execs believe it closely follows the Koup design concept that was unveiled at the 2008 New York Auto Show. The car will be based on the all-new Cerato sedan and arrive as a true two-door coupe -- not a 'booted' three-door hatch.

Kia Australia's head of product planning Nick Reid told the Carsales Network: "We still don't have a lot of details to discuss on the coupe, but we can confirm it will go on sale in Australia in Spring this year.

"We're expecting it to stay very true to the [New York show] concept car. It's an outstanding looking vehicle and we expect it to do great things for us [in Australia]," Reid stated.

One of the stars of last year's show circuit in concept and production form, Kia's Soul five-door will beat the Koup to the punch. It's set to arrive in March or April, says new Kia Australia boss, Terry Im.

To be priced "between Cerato and Sportage" according to Im, three trim levels will be offered. But that won't be the limit of customer choice when it comes to Soul.

Like MINI's Cooper range and the new Fiat 500, the Soul is designed to be easily personalised. This is "at the heart of the car," says Kia Australia marketing boss, Steve Watt.

"We'll definitely offer people the ability to make their Soul their own," Watt told the Carsales Network.

Most recently a ute version of the Soul was unveiled at Detroit. Last year Kia displayed the Burner, Diva and Searcher versions of the Soul at Geneva Motor Show (more here) and production cars at Paris.

While the ute is a flight of fancy, the highly stylised personalised versions of the Soul are not.

According to Watt, the Burner, Diva and Searcher give an indication of the customization options that will be offered to local buyers of the five-door, five-seat crossover-cum-hatch.

"They'll be a mix of factory and dealer-fitted options," Watt revealed.

Power for the local version of the Soul is expected to come from the same 115kW 2.0-litre Theta II four-cylinder petrol engine just launched in the Cerato. A 2.0-litre 'R Series' turbodiesel is also under consideration for the Australian market, Kia insiders revealed.