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Rimac will help Kia turn the Imagine concept into a high-performance flagship

The segment-bending Imagine concept Kia unveiled at the 2019 Geneva auto show will spawn a high-performance flagship in 2021. Rimac, which Kia and Hyundai jointly invested in, will help bring it to the market. "This car will have a significant effect on how consumers perceive Kia and its part in future electrification. We want it to demonstrate super-high performance levels but in a package that is different," affirmed Carlos Lahoz, the automaker's marketing chief, in an interview with British magazine Autocar. "Super-high performance" isn't a term we've ever used to describe a Kia, even the Stinger doesn't merit this label, so Lahoz's comments sketch an image of a model that breaks all ties with members of the company's current range. Croatia-based Rimac, an expert in making quick electric cars, will play a role in the development process. The extent of Rimac's involvement remains a mystery. Similarly, we don't know how Kia defines the term "super-high performance," and whether it alludes to straight-line speed, Tail of the Dragon-taming handling, or both. Like the Imagine concept (pictured), the production model will arrive as a sedan-crossover cocktail vaguely reminiscent of the short-lived Volvo S60 Cross Country, among other high-riding four-doors. Its front and rear ends will likely be toned down, but Kia stylists have been on a roll in recent years so we expect a head-turning design. As for the 21-screen infotainment system, which Kia labeled a "humorous riposte" to the industry's obsession with in-car displays, we're betting it won't make the leap from the show floor to the showroom floor.  The sheet metal will hide a new platform Kia is developing jointly with Hyundai specifically to underpin electric cars. Autoblog understands it will underpin future Genesis models, too. The architecture will be compatible with an 800-volt electrical system that charges the battery from 20% to 80% in 20 minutes, and Autocar reported the Imagine will offer up to 310 miles of driving range, though odds are that's on the optimistic WLTP testing cycle. Kia's announcement that the Imagine — a name the production version won't wear — will arrive in 2021 suggests it could land on our shores for the 2022 model year. The company hasn't revealed whether it will sell the model in the United States, however. Don't let the idea of a high-horsepower, quasi-luxury electric car from Kia fool you.

Kia Soul EV starts production in Korea

As sister company Hyundai delivers its first Tucson fuel cell vehicles in California, Kia has kicked off volume production of the Soul EV in Korea. We've driven the prototype and are excited about the arrival of this electric vehicle. Kia is already calling the production start a landmark event, but let's remember that other automakers have been building production EVs for years now. The EVs won't be exported outside of Korea until later in 2014, but the automaker is hoping to make 5,000 a year at its Gwangju facility. The first batch is headed to "select European countries" with more coming to Europe at a later date. The vehicle might be coming to the US in the third quarter. The Soul EV is Kia's second production EV, following the Ray EV. Kia only made 2,500 of them for governmental agency use in Korea. We've got a little video on the Soul EV here. As a reminder, the Soul has a 27-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery which is good for a now-official range (on the European test cycle) of 212 kilometers. That's 132 miles, but expect a good chunk to get knocked off when it gets rated on the US text cycle. For example, the Nissan Leaf is rated at 199 kilometers (123 miles) in Europe but only 84 miles from the EPA. Read Kia's press release below. Start of production for all-electric Kia Soul EV Volume production of Soul EV for export is a landmark in Kia's history Ideal for commuters, Soul EV goes on sale outside Korea later in 2014 Class-leading drive range of 212 km certified for Europe 81.4 kW motor produces 285 Nm of torque for 'fun-to-drive' motoring The first vehicles off the production line are destined for select European countries and are scheduled to go on sale across the continent during the second half of the year. The Soul EV is manufactured at Kia's Gwangju facility in Korea, where annual output of the electric car is planned to reach 5,000 units. "Now that production of export models has begun, the new Soul EV is truly at the forefront of Kia's 'Clean Mobility' program, providing environmentally-friendly transport to our customers around the world," comments Thomas Oh, Executive Vice President and COO, Kia Motors Corporation.

2017 Kia Cadenza First Drive

"Garbanzo? Costanza? Credenza?" I can't tell if the guy at the bakery is trying to be funny or if he's genuinely forgetting the name of the car – I've told him twice; it's the 2017 Kia Cadenza. But you know, maybe the miscommunication is just fine. Like the Cadenza itself. It's fine. You shouldn't read that negatively. Every now and then in this job, you drive a car and simply come away thinking, "it was fine." And if you're building a car in this particular segment, that's practically the response you hope to elicit. A comfortable jack-of-all-trades at a price that isn't going to bankrupt the owner. Consider the Cadenza's competition: Toyota Avalon, Nissan Maxima, Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse. These aren't groundbreaking luxury vehicles, masters of utility or fuel economy, or Nurburgring-smashing sports sedans; they're... fine. You almost feel bad saying it – from a very reasonable angle it's a great segment, populated with cars offering a lot of the same equipment and a little more bang for the buck than a full-on luxury sedan, and tending to be roomier, too. And yet it's that dilution of dedicated purpose that keeps these models stagnant in showrooms compared to the more luxurious – and certainly to the more economical. It's hard to raise an eyebrow here. So it goes with the Cadenza. Despite looking a heck of a lot like the previous car, the new Cadenza has been reworked significantly – the use of high-strength steel has doubled, to over 50 percent; the use of hot-stamped steel has tripled; the doors are 16 percent more dent-resistant; the chassis has 35 percent greater torsional rigidity; there's a new subframe (similar to that of the Optima); the front windows are now laminated and there's 13 percent more sound insulation in the A-pillars; there's a full underbody cover and wheel air curtains; it has a new eight-speed transmission – developed in-house; there are 40 fewer pounds of unsprung weight thanks to aluminum parts; the brakes are bigger; and there's a bevy of upscale tech features – but we lost you halfway through that paragraph. The styling is a little sharper than the outgoing model's – it's not going to blow your pants off, but it's hardly a bad-looking car. The updated design features Kia's now-trademark quad-LED setup within the lower front grilles, and the main grille is a concave affair – base models get a "Diamond Butterfly" insert you know from other Kia models, and higher-end Cadenzas get "Intaglio" vertical slats.