The debut of the new Kia Soul at the Paris Motor Show was no ordinary one, because Kia decided to create a special ‘Soul World’ zone, where seven versions of the Soul were displayed, Vanilla Shake, Blue Stone, Black Soul (two models), Java Brown, Clear White and Tomato Red. All the cars are top-of-the-range models that try to show the wide variety of styles and ‘looks’ the Soul can have.

Under the hood, the Kia Soul will be offered with a 126 hp diesel with DPF as standard (a 115 hp ‘low-power’ version will also be available in some countries), a 126 hp 1.6-litre CRDi 16-valve diesel engine with variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) and a 126 hp 1.6-litre Gamma petrol engine with electronic multi-point fuel injection and continuously variable valve timing (CVVT). Fitted with this engines, the Soul goes from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) between 10.4 and 11.3 seconds, top speed is around 175 km/h (109 mph) and fuel consumption figures range over a 5.1 to 6.6 litres/100 km span, while CO2 figures vary between 137 and 159 g/km.

We must say, the Kia Soul sounds like a very promosing car, targeted at “the young and the young-at-heart”. For example, when it will go on sale in Europe in late 2008/early 2009, customers will be able to choose from a line-up of up to 15* Soul cars, with five equipment levels, two engines (with manual or automatic transmissions), and a range of option packs – depending on individual markets.

“The innovative Kia Soul defies categorisation and encourages customers to build an emotional bond with this rebellious new car. Soul presents consumers with such a broad selection of styling, comfort and equipment choices, that it redefines the concept of freedom. It’s a brand new urban car packed full of liberating ideas – a car that challenges consumers to ‘free your mind’, a car that will encourage them to rethink everything they know about Kia,” said Panu Vainamo, General Manager Marketing, Kia Motors Europe.

Meanwhile, check out the photos we took at the Paris show:

Photo Gallery: Kia Soul at the Paris Motor Show

Read More: "2008 Paris Special: The new Kia Soul"

Yesterday, Kia released a set of photos and more info on their upcoming Kia Soul. Back in March, we saw the Soul triplets at the Geneva show, but the production version will make its debut at next month’s Paris Motor Show. Though Kia calls the Soul an “urban crossover”, ee’re not sure in what segment to place the car, it has things in common with mini and compact hatchback, while its appearance places it closer to the crossover segment.

Under the hood, the Kia Soul will be offered with both petrol and diesel engines. The smallest engine, offered in most countries, will be a 1.6 liter petrol unit that develops 126 hp at 6,300 rpm and 156 Nm (115-lbs/ft) of torque at 4,200 rpm, while European customers will also get a 1.6 liter turbodiesel that will deliver 126 hp at 4,000 rpm and 255 Nm (188-lbs/ft) of torque at 2,000 rpm (also available with 115 hp in some countries). The most powerful engine in the range will be a 2.0 liter petrol engine that develops 142 hp at 6,000 rpm and 186 Nm (137-lbs/ft) of torque at 4,600 rpm.

The car will be 4,105 mm long, 2,550 mm wide and 1,610 mm tall, but Gregory Guillaume, Chief Designer, Kia Motors Europe, said that “drivers and passengers will be treated to a very unique experience when sitting inside the Soul for the first time. The tall doors and high-mounted seats make for easy access, while the ‘laid-back’ dashboard design, triple dial instrument cluster and thick-rimmed steering wheel create a combination of spaciousness for passengers and tailored fit for the driver, generating a very special ambience.”

The Kia Soul will be assembled at the Kia Gwangju plant in Korea from this November and global sales will start next February. Check out more photos after the jump. Read More: "New photos and details on the new Kia Soul"

Last Thursday, the South Korean company announced their latest car, the 2009 Kia Forte compact sedan. With the recent high gas prices, Kia hopes to boost sales by releasing this new fuel efficient car, of which they hope to sell 30,000 units this year and up to 250,000 in 2010. The car will be offered with Kia’s 124 hp 1.6 liter engine and a 2.0 powerplant is scheduled to be added to the range soon. Priced from 11.9 million won ($11,300) to 19.6 million won ($18,300), the 2009 Kia Forte will go on sale this week and will compete cars like the Hyundai Avante, the Renault SM3 or the GM Daewoo Lacetti.

More photos after the jump. Read More: "2009 Kia Forte compact sedan details"

Kia sales grew progressively in the last years and that created a more attractive perspective about the Korean cars. After showing the Soul concept in different shapes and colors, Kia announced that this is the final version. Also they have offered some information about the engine range.

The new model, Soul, will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, this October and it can be bought a month after. From the first official photos we can see that Soul still has the features of its concept, but also has some similarities with the newer Skoda models. The car is 4105 mm long, 1785 mm wide and has a high of 1610 mm (this are almost the same dimensions as Nissan Note).

Under the bonnet there will be a 122 hp 1.6 liter engine, a 2.0 liter one and a Diesel, also 1.6 liter - 115bhp (turbocharged). The base 1.6 liter engine will be the same as those from Kia Cee’d. Although it has a SUV look, Soul will be available only in front wheel drive. The concept was created by the designers from Kia Europe, but the series model was made by two creation teams, one from California and one from Coreea.

Check out more photos after the jump.
Read More: "Kia Soul production version unveiled"

Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group joins ranks of Global Top 5 Automakers. Since 1999 when the Automotive Group was in 11th place has climb on 5th place in 2007. Kia motors has a continuous improvement in quality, design, eco-friendliness and brand innovation.

According to Automotive News’ 2008 Global Data Book, published on July 1, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has emerged as the world’s fifth largest automaker moving up from sixth place in 2006 and with a number of 3,961,629 units in 2007 of global sales.

“We are extremely proud of having achieved this goal in such a short period of time,” said Ik-Hwan Kim, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Kia Motors. “We have been stressing the value of our products over the last few years and our efforts have not gone unnoticed by the public or the industry, neither quantitatively or qualitatively. Kia will continue to focus on producing a new generation of quality vehicles with distinctive design for those who are young-at-heart to keep the momentum of our brand growing. As a top global automaker, we are set to move in new directions with continuous improvements in quality, design, eco-friendliness and brand innovation for years to come.”

Since 1999 the group has moved steadily up the rankings ladded under Chairman Chung’s leadership and pushed to globalize operations by building manufacturing plants in countries like US, Slovakia, Czech, RUssia, Brazil or even China and India.

Here are the 2007 Global Sales Rankings :
1. Toyota———–9,366,000
2. GM—————-8,902,252
3. Volkswagen—–6,191,618
4. Ford————–5,964,000
5. Hyundai-Kia—–3,961,629
6. Honda————3,831,000
7. Nissan————3,675,574
8. PSA/Peugeot—-3,428,400
9. Chrysler———-2,676,268
10. Fiat—————2,620,864
Read More: "Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group now Top 5"

The New York Auto Show marked another interesting premiere, the Kia KOUP Concept, a very aggresive coupe concept, designed at the Kia Motors America Design Center in Irvine, Calif and which, as Tom Kearns, chief designer at KMA, “represents the future of the Kia brand and its dynamic vehicles that speak to our core philosophies […] Kia strives to appeal to the emotional side of car enthusiasts who seek adventure and want to take a leap into the future with style and advanced technology, and the KOUP effectively delivers.”

The aggressive appearance of the Kia KOUP Concept is given by the front fascia, featuring a tab-shaped upper grille and the LED headlamps, plus glowing, carbon fiber and black chrome elements used. The concept also features a cool panoramic-view glass with two panels extending from the windshield through the roof to the backlight.

The car is build on a front-wheel-drive platform and is powered by a 2.0-liter Theta II turbocharged engine which produces 290 hp and 289 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm. This is possible by using a GDI (Gasoline Direct Injection) twin scroll turbocharger for greater power and efficiency.

So, overall, the Kia KOUP Concept is one of the coolest concepts from New York and if Kia is really serious about the KOUP previewing future Kia design philosophy, things look really great.

Check out more photos after the jump.

Read More: "Kia KOUP Concept debuts at New York"

The press conference announcing the Kia Soul mini crossover concepts will take place tomorrow, but today we managed to take some photos of the upcoming Soul ‘triplets’ which will be on display at the Geneva Motor Show. The first one and the most impressive, is the SOUL Burner, with a cool modern design and painted in black and red. The second one is the DIVA, which it looks like it will target all those wannabe divas out there, with a glamorous look, given by the white color and especially the golden insertions. And the third one is the Searcher, which, judging after its looks and its name, is a more off-terrain oriented vehicle. More info tomorrow, when the official press conference will take place.

Meanwhile, check out all our Kia Souls photos from Geneva after the jump.

Read More: "Geneva 2008: Kia Soul triplets"

Scheduled to debut at next year’s Detroit Motor Show, Kia tried to tease us some time ago with some teaser photo of a 7 passenger SUV, which meantime we found it’s gonna be called Kia Borrego, based on the Kia Mesa concept presented two years ago at the same Detroit Show. However, yesterday a whole bunch of photos of the 2009 Kia Borrego emerged on the net, showing details on both the exterior and the interior of the car.

The photos were taken in Korea and don’t be fooled by the Mohave badge, because that’s the name under which the vehicle will be sold there, starting early in 2008. For the rest of the world, sales will start probably some time after the Detroit Motor Show, which will take place between January 19-27, most likely late spring or early summer.

See a complete photo gallery of the 2009 Kia Borrego after the jump.
Read More: "2009 Kia Borrego photos break loose"

Even though I find this really funny, I’m sure the people over at Kia didn’t laugh as much, because they are really put in an embarrassing situation. So, what happened? Well, on its way to the LA Auto Show, the Kia Kee Concept, a very important car for Kia, which meant to show everyone the direction Kia will take for future, broke loose of its cargo restraints and its front part was really damaged.

Alex Fedorak, Kia’s spokesman said: “We had to send the car back to Italy to get repaired and there is no way it’s going to make it back to the States in time for the LA show.”. Too bad we didn’t get to see any pics of the Kia Kee “facelift”, but now, seriously, we feel bad for Kia and its a shame the LA Show visitors won’t be able to enjoy this fine concept car.

See a photo gallery of the car (not damaged) after the jump.
Read More: "Damaged Kia Kee Concept won’t see the LA Auto Show"

Kia decided to release this teaser photo of its new 7 passengers SUV which will debut at next year’s Detroit Auto Show. Currently codenamed HM, the car is based on the Kia Mesa concept, presented two years ago at Detroit. We don’t know anything yet, as Kia didn’t give any official info, but we can guess that this car will be larger then Kia’s current Sorento, probably in the Toyota LandCruiser range. View a high resolution photo after the jump, plus photos of the Kia Mesa concept.
Read More: "Kia’s next 7 passengers SUV teaser photo"

Starting today, we have some new colleagues in the blogosphere, the guys at Kia, who launched the company’s official blog, Kia-Buzz. Welcome, guys!

And here is an excerpt from the first post, written by Mr. Euisun Chung, the president and CEO of Kia Motors.

This is an especially exciting moment for me, and Kia Motors. I’m proud to be the first person to post on Kia’s new blog, Kia BUZZ. We want this blog to serve as another important way in which Kia can maintain open discussion and dialogue with people throughout the world: our customers, dealers, other automotive bloggers, and really anyone else who shares an active interest in the automotive world.

Read More: "Kia launches company blog"

Latest Euro NCAP tests had some pretty interesting results. First of all, it’s the first time Kia achieves a 5-star rating, the Cee’d having an overall score of 34 points. Second of all, Peugeot’ proves once again that it makes some of the safest cars on the streets, with the new 308 joining Peugeot’s 1007, 207 and 407 5-stars rating. In the child protection tests both models were awarded with 4 out 5 stars while in pedestrian protection, the Cee’d got a mediocre 2-star rating (out of 4) and the Peugeot a 3 star rating.
Read More: "Peugeot 308 and Kia Cee’d, 5 stars safety at Euro NCAP tests"

After a while ago Kia released a teaser photo of the Kia Sport Coupe Concept which will be first introduced at this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show. Yesterday they released another one, to get us even more anxious.

“It would have been easy to present an extreme supercar at Frankfurt that would attract plenty of attention, but could have no place in Kia’s future. The new Kia Sports Coupe Concept is a clear and emphatic statement that the future of the Kia brand is set to be one that will excite and surprise an entirely new audience of consumers,” commented Peter Schreyer, Kia’s Design Director.
Read More: "Another Kia Sport Coupe Concept teaser photo"