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K900 probably won't be last time Kia goes alphanumeric

This is part of an effort to ensure that the vehicle brand itself registers with consumers more than the model name.
The new Kia K900 luxury sedan stands as a four-wheeled flag in the ground of the financially fertile turf of the world's premium automakers. It's a bold move for a Korean manufacturer that was best known for inexpensive MSRPs and easy credit only a few years ago. The company has made sure it has the requisite trappings of premium motoring: indulgent size, rear-wheel drive, a powerful V8 engine, real wood trim and rich leather seats. It has also ensured the model has another important earmark of luxury - an alphanumeric name. These days, everyone from Audi to BMW to Cadillac to Lexus to Volvo rely on a jumble of letters and numbers to make up their model names. We've been told this is all part of an effort to ensure that the vehicle brand itself registers with consumers more than the model name.

A closer look at the 2015 Kia Soul EV

Kia is set to join the fully electric vehicle space this year, with the fresh-faced 2015 Soul EV. The all-electric Soul made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this month, and Autoblog west coast editor Michael Harley had a chance to speak with Orth Hedrick, Kia's vice president of product planning, about the new electrified hatchback. In its standard form, the Kia Soul offers tons a wealth of functionality with its upright packaging, and with a new 81-kilowatt electric motor underhood, the electric vehicle should be good for between 80 and 100 miles of driving range. Charging times vary from as long as 24 to five hours, depending on your setup, and Kia is partnering with Bosch, Leviton and AeroVironment to provide different charging solutions, depending on a customer's specific needs. Take another, closer look at the 2015 Kia Soul EV in the video, below.

Kia hopping on the 48-volt ultra-mild hybrid bandwagon

Kia has announced that it will join an expanding line of automakers, including Audi, Ram, Volvo and others, adding ultra-mild 48-volt hybrid systems to their engines. The system works like other systems in that it has a combination starter and generator connected to the engine crank via a belt. It allows the engine to be shut off earlier than simply at a stop, and provides a bit of electrical assistance to reduce how much the engine has to work on takeoff. The system will first be implemented in Europe with the Kia Sportage and with its diesel engine in 2018. In 2019, the Kia Ceed small car will also be offered with the system. Kia says the system will also appear on gasoline engines in the near future. However, a representative from Kia's U.S. branch wouldn't comment either way on whether the technology will come to America. We think it's a pretty safe bet that we'll see the technology offered in the U.S. soon. Kia makes it clear that this system is designed to be easy to implement. It says there are hardly any packaging issues, usually putting the battery under the trunk floor, and the starter/generator motor doesn't typically require reworking the engine bay much. It also should work with rear-, front-, or all-wheel-drive layouts and with manual and automatic transmissions. If it were only going to be on diesel engines, we could see how Kia might not bring it, but since it will also be featured on gas engines, we're sure it will show up on our shores soon. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.