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Kia Soulster Named The 2009 Concept Truck Of The Year
Kia Soulster pick-up receives the 9009 Concept Truck Award!
The North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards awarded concept cars in four different categories: Concept Cars, Concept Truck, Specialty Concept Vehicle and Production Preview Vehicle.
This year, a jury of automotive journos selected the concept car winners from 23 concept vehicles and 11 production preview vehicles that debuted during the 2009 North American Auto Show season.
Honored for its beach-ready prowess and attractive design, the Soulster has been awarded the 2009 Concept Truck of the year, making it the first concept car produced by Kia that received the highly coveted Concept Vehicle of the Year Award.
In the Concept Car category the award was given to Volkswagen’s BlueSport Roadster, while Cadillac Converj and Karma Sunset concepts took awards in the Specialty Concept Vehicle and Production Preview Vehicle categories.
About Kia Soulster concept
A two-door concept with roadster roots, the brightly colored Soul’r yellow Soul’ster projects a hip industrial look with screw borders, reminiscent of a rivet design found on a fighter jet. The windshield is shortened for a sportier and hunkered down appearance.
A two-piece top enables passengers to expose the front and back seating areas independently, using elbow-grease technology. The roll bar serves a dual purpose and includes a place for the slider tracks, while providing protection not found in traditional convertibles.
Regardless of Soul’ster being viewed from front, back or side, it offers innovative perspectives derived from the original Soul.
The energetic, distinctive look carries from front to rear with dual chrome exhaust and polished aluminum exhaust tips featuring carbon-fiber interior sleeves.
The large 19-inch, five-spoke aluminum alloy wheels perfect the Soul’ster’s appearance.
Once inside, the non-floor-mounted cantilevered seats project the illusion of being suspended in space when viewed from the side allowing for increased rear legroom.
Storage compartments below each of the fold-flat rear seats, offer room for myriad cargo needs.
In addition to the spacious cargo area, dual storage compartments also can be found in the rear and underneath the cargo hold area. [Source: Kia Motors America, Photo: Jalopnik] www.kia-world.net
I heard Kia was planning to produce a pickup truck but was canceled because of tough competition and small market in the segment but I think if it comes up with a hybrid, I mean the FIRST PICKUP TRUCK HYBRID it will be successful. Since they were able to produce the Mohave/Borrego I don’t see why they can’t succeed.
Now I see no reason for Kia to produce this.
Whoops! I mean I see no reason for Kia NOT to produce this!!
i don’t mind this too much
if it’s classified as a commerical in this country with the 1.6 diesel it wsould even be cheaper
who knows if Kia will make a hybrid TRUCK now? their mohave/Borrego isn’t doing so well anyway… they can go for hybrid soul or forte. anyway, I’m with Greg, Kia has to produce the soulster
hello kia-world family. this is off-topic to the thread but i just wanted to say that due to being involved in a [$6 in damage] car accident, I’ve gotten a new car. A lady ran a light taking the front end nearly off of my 2006 Dodge Neon R/T. I’ve been planning on waiting for the Koup to come out but obviously needing a car fast, I didn’t have a choice. I bought a 2009 Kia Spectra SX! i love it! My mom liked my car so much, i went back with her the next day and she bought a 2009 Kia Sportage EX! Mine’s silver with the Black & gray interior, upgraded kia sound system (which i’ve already had 2 10″ subs installed), and limo tint. Mom’s is white with chocolate leather & nav. NICE. neither of our cars have more than 300 miles on the odo but we both love them very much! 😀
Ps – i even told my salesman i planned on buying the Koup sometime in the next spring. 🙂
Yep, adding 4WD would up the cost ante too much I’m afraid. No 4WD and no AWD, oh, we’ll be all right. It looks outrageous, though, awesome even. Build it and add it to your ever-growing wonderful worldwide stable of vehicles, Kia!
AWD should be at least entertained as an Option Package, considering Hyundai/KIAs contract with Haldex. The Competing Suzuki SX4 B-segment crossover has AWD as an option. Why not the Soul? As a Matter of fact, I hate RWD and the Genesis should have had a AWD option as well.
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Then again, since the next gen Amanti will get AWD first they probably wont put it on the Soul, for a least right now.
the soul’s drivetrain isnt designed to handle AWD. its a modified Rio platform
Can’t really see why you would want AWD? It’s not really an off-road vehicle…
Glad to hear you’re ok JoshLofty!!
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Well, there are very encouraging news coming from Kia. It is very likely that Soulster is going to be built, thanks to awesome feedback that Kia received about it so far. We shall see soon!
I know that Bornloser, but in limited quantities this thing with AWD can be the king of rally cars. Of course AWD would be a limited quantity model anyway.
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The Platform is Current gen Rio, but the drivetrain is next Gen tech. Boris, If KIA was to put an Audi A3 AWD system in there it might work.
What evidence do we have that the new Kia Soulster would be the king of rally cars,,,yet? Do we know that much about it’s ability to hold corners, accelerate in to and through them, etc. Just asking.
Theres many Soul reviews out there. Where have you been at?
Busy with work and other websites. Forgive me in all confidence.
Oh Ok Bryan. Motor Trend almost had an Orgasam for this car by the way. The only complaints about this car is the form most auto journalists is the: “Crude 2.0 Engine.”
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“KIA has a potential Halo car on its hands with the SOUL, the fit and finish is excellent. Though, we have a problem with the crude engines available. Also, KIA could have been the leader in the pack if it had a 5 speed Auto available. We hope KIA heeds our suggestions with a refreshed future SOUL model, becuase in a sea of blandness the SOULs funky styling is a breath of fresh air. The KIA Soul should be enough to make Toyota very concerned about their Scion line, and with the changes we have suggested, this car will be the leader in the pack.”
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-MotorTrend
Excellent MT review-thanks for putting it in there.
The average person does not care about the engine, looks and fuel mileage..as long as it moves and its pretty or cool..ooohh shiny!!
like this vehicle a lot — was hoping that a small truck would come out when toyota made it’s tonkatoy type truck i thought it would be great if they made a mini version of it — so this is the next best thing.
This is great, my husband loves his Rio and has been waiting for KIA to make a truck