Kia Soul Likely to Surpass 100,000 Units This Year; ’12 Model Launching

Kia’s Soul compact car is likely to surpass 100,000 deliveries in the U.S. this year, according to WardsAuto data, giving Kia two six-figure-selling vehicles this year.

Barring a total collapse in sales, the Sorento cross/utility vehicle, which tallied 88,613 deliveries through August, should cross the milestone again.

The ’12 Soul gets a revised front fascia, slightly larger upper grille.

Last year, the Sorento became Kia’s first model to sell 100,000 units in a single calendar year in the U.S., racking up 108,895 deliveries.

The Soul and Sorento could account for half of Kia’s targeted 400,000-unit 2011 U.S. volume.

“I don’t think anyone would have expected to see what Soul has done,” says Michael Sprague, Kia’s U.S. vice president-marketing.

August Soul U.S. sales of 6,885 were well off the 10,000-plus delivered in each of the previous five months, but based on seasonal trends WardsAuto calculates the car’s 2011 total to reach 106,000 units.

Kia spokesman Jay Joyer says a 100,000-unit-year is possible, depending on market conditions, but doesn’t provide a reason for the Soul’s August sales decline.

Inventory of the model at the end of August fell more than 30% vs. late July and August 2010.

Kia is selling down the ’11 Soul as it prepares to bring out the refreshed ’12 model.

The ’12 Soul gets two new engines and transmissions, plus some moderate stylistic changes, in an effort to keep sales churning.

“We’ve addressed the key issues consumers identified with the Soul: it was the power and the transmissions,” Ralph Tjoa, Kia’s U.S. manager of car product planning, says at the South Korean event.

Replacing the 122-hp, 1.6L 4-cyl. in the ’11 Soul is a gasoline direct-injected 1.6L, shared with the new ’12 Rio, making 138 hp; and a 164-hp, multi-port injected 2.0L replaces the old 142-hp 2.0L from the ’11 model.

The Soul’s transmissions also are upgraded in the refresh, with the manual moving to a 6-speed from a 5-speed and the automatic going to six gears from four.

While take rates continue to shrink, Sprague says a relatively high 15% of Souls leave the dealership with a manual gearbox.

Tjoa says the new engines/transmissions help add 4 mpg (1.8L /100 km) to highway fuel economy figures, with the new 1.6L Soul achieving 35 mpg city/highway (6.7 L/100 km) and ’12 Souls with the new 2.0L reaching an estimated 34 mpg (6.9 L/100 km).

As with the new Rio subcompact, the ’12 Soul will offer Kia’s stop/start system as a late-availability option. Kia has said stop/start adds about 1 mpg (0.4L/100 km) to city fuel-economy figures.

The ’12 Soul offers a variety of features depending on the grade: Soul, Soul+ or Soul! (Kia has dropped the previous red-interior Sport model from the Soul lineup for ’12).

The ’12 Soul! adds new high-end features including light-emitting diodes to accent front projector headlamps; rear taillights also have LEDs.

Kia’s new UVO infotainment system with touch screen and rear-backup camera will be standard on Soul! versions this fall, as will a 350-watt Infinity sound system.

Tjoa says media response to an Infinity system in another Kia model was so positive that Infinity and Kia engineers rushed development of a unit for the Soul in less than two years.

“We think this is a very key component” of the new Soul, Tjoa says. “Consumers have shown they’re willing to pay for premium audio.”

Navigation also will be available on the top-grade Soul!. Kia previously said the first generation of UVO cannot be coupled with navigation.

The base Soul now comes standard with tilt-and-telescopic steering, electronic stability control and hill-start assist.

Some standard features on Soul! models are optional on Soul+, such as the Infinity audio system.

The ’12 Soul, on sale now, ranges from $13,900 to $19,600, up $600 and $1,150, respectively, from ’11. Destination and handling for ’12 is $750.

To market the Soul, Kia once again is calling on computer-generated hamsters that star in a new campaign, “Share Some Soul.” The campaign includes commercials on TV and in movie theaters, plus coordinated YouTube and Facebook contests.

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