Kia SOUL Concepts and eco_cee’d Duo debut at Geneva

Kia has revealed its fun side to the world at this years Geneva Motor Show, with the debut of three SOUL concepts.

The concept cars - SOUL Diva, SOUL Burner and SOUL Searcher - were created by Kia's European design team under the guidance of Kia's Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer. The trio of concept cars is closely related to a new production car which will make its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in October.

"The all-new Kia production car will appeal especially to the young-at-heart - whatever their age! It will defy classification and encourage customers to build an emotional bond with their new car by providing a creative platform that they can customize to match their own character," said Gregory Guillaume, Chief Designer Kia Motors Europe.

The Kia SOUL Diva as the name suggests has been created to appeal to style-conscious ‘young-at-heart’. Inside, SOUL Diva presents a black, white and gold world of leather and glitter that resides under a glass panoramic roof. The seats are upholstered in glossy black imitation leather using 'quilted' stitching and trimmed to look like sofas. While the cabin floor is covered in black long-pile 'Pony-hide' carpet.

The Kia SOUL Burner is the 'bad boy' of Kia's three new concept characters, and comes complete with dragon style tattoos... We caught a glimpse of SOUL Burner in Kia’s teaser from a few weeks ago. From the outside, it is all black with sparse flashes of scarlet. The tattoos are black gloss on the black satin paintwork, which shows a large dragon creeping over the bonnet. On the other side, a small dragon climbs up the C-pillar.

The front bumper is equipped with L-shaped day-light LED driving lamps around the outer edges. At the rear, two vertical exhaust pipes are placed at the extremes of the bumper. Inside SOUL Burner, the four individual sports seats and entire cabin trim are divided horizontally. Above the split, everything is finished in a rich matt red, while below all is deep black.

The Kia SOUL Searcher is the concept that Kia says “provides a haven of tranquility within the urban jungle, a comfort-zone on four wheels” . It sets out to capture the spirit of Korean and Far Eastern culture with a focus on achieving personal inner peace and creating a calm cocoon for the occupants. In fitting with the theme, the colors are muted, the textures are soft and the road presence is discreet.

On the outside, an old but lived-in leather finish is applied to the bonnet, the powered folding roof and tailgate panel, plus the dashboard, door panels and steering wheel rim. Inside, grey-beige felt is used to cover the floor and the seats for an "ambience of comforting domesticity that banishes pandemonium".

Aside from the trio of SOUL concepts, Kia is also exhibiting two new 'green-performance' concept cars at Geneva. Called 'eco_cee'd' the concept cars are a development of the Kia pro_cee'd (first shown at the Frankfurt Show last year) and the popular cee'd five-door hatchback.

With the eco_cee'd models, Kia aims to achieve even better fuel consumption, with fewer emissions - while still delivering an entertaining drive. Kia Motors has already confirmed that many of the technologies featured on the eco_cee'd concept cars will be progressively transferred to the cee'd family of production models, manufactured from December 2008. Fuel consumption is a super frugal 3.9 L/100km, while C02 emissions have reduced to just 104 g/km (down 17%) for pro_cee'd and 106 g/km for cee'd five-door.

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