Kia has confirmed that its new Soul ‘urban crossover passenger car’ will go on sale in Europe next February with 126ps diesel and petrol engines and a choice of manual or automatic transmissions, depending on model, similar to those used in the Slovak-built Ceed line.
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To suit local regulations and taxation, a ‘low-power’ 115ps diesel engine will also be available in some markets.
Kia Europe is not taking the 142ps two-litre petrol engine available to the US, Australia and Asia where more are sold with automatic transmissions and tax is not set by CO2 output.
The European-spec diesel engine for most markets generates 126ps at 4,000 rpm and maximum torque of 255Nm at 2,000 rpm while the all-alloy petrol engine produces its 126ps at 6,300 rpm and 156Nm of torque at 4,200 rpm.
“The Kia Soul… will offer cavernous passenger space that matches or even outperforms vehicles with much larger exterior dimensions,” said Kia Europe marketing chief Panu Vainamo.
The Soul will make its world debut at the Paris show on 2 October. It will be made at Kia’s Gwangju facility in Korea from November.
