The U.S. office of Kia has announced the impending end of production of the Soul crossover. Once the dealership stock runs out, the car will be unobtainable in the States. Motor1 believes that the same fate awaits all other markets where the model is being offered – Kia’s new product strategy has no place for it.
The Soul was introduced in 2008 and went into production in multiple countries at once. It has gradually declined in popularity throughout its three generations, so the final generation was only made in (and exported from) South Korea. The company reported shipping 1,000,000 units a decade ago; it has now passed 1,500,000 units shipped in the United States alone. For a little while, the Soul even made it into the top-1 list of America’s most popular compact vehicles.
Why, then, is it looking like the CUV is about to be permanently discontinued? Motor1 points out that electric cars now play the biggest role in Kia’s model strategy. The company will likely replace it with the Seltos SUV and the K4 hatchback in the relevant markets. In fact, the K4 can be considered a successor-of-sorts based on its features and positioning.
As for the USA, larger Kia SUVs and crossovers have traditionally enjoyed a much steadier demand there than compacts.
