SPY PICS: Soul power
Transmigration of the Soul from concept to production reality is a happening thingSeen as a future replacement for the Sportage, Kia’s Soul concept was first unveiled at the Detroit auto show in early 2006.
The major US show was then the venue for an announcement this year that the South Korean company would build the Soul, with a likely US launch date in late 2008.
As usual, the difference between reality -- as shown in these Carparazzi photos -- and concept is quite large, with the show car’s reverse-wedge styling replaced by a more conventional profile, the rear suicide doors ditched for regular front-hinged doors and the oversize wheels making way for something more mundane. The hugely flared wheel arches have gone too, although the exaggerated taper of the side windows remains.
Soul power comes from a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine that drives just the front wheels through a sequential five-speed automatic transmission.
-- with Carparazzi
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