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Kia Sorento bares its claws for X-Men special edition

We all know what Batman drives. Chrysler even postulated at what Superman would drive with its special Ram Power Wagon. But what would the X-Men drive? According to Kia, the Sorento you see here. Unveiled to promote the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, this special Sorento has been done up in a unique livery inspired by one of Marvel's superheroes. Just which one, Kia's not saying, inviting fans to vote on its Facebook page – but unless those claws on the front are magnetized, we're pretty sure you can guess. The special Kia Sorento will be displayed at the Australian Open, which Kia is also sponsoring, and will be followed by a video of tennis star Rafael Nadal teaming up with the team of mutants and jumping in the Sorento to take on a patrol of Sentinels. This isn't the first time, of course, that we've seen Kia take inspiration from comic-book superheroes, but its previous collaborations – highlighted by a quintet of show cars unveiled at SEMA two years ago – were with rival DC's Justice League. 'X-Men' inspired Kia Sorento to debut at the Australian Open 2015 - Striking 'Kia X-Car' produced in collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - Fans to guess the X-Men character behind Kia's latest model on the Kia Facebook page - Grand Slam Champion and 'Superhuman' Kia brand ambassador Rafael Nadal to unveil the 'Kia X-Car' at Australian Open 2015 Seoul: Kia Motors today announced details of a new collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment to promote X-Men: Days of Future Past on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD and Kia's sponsorship of the Australian Open 2015. The partnership with Fox will see the unveiling of a special X-Men-inspired all-new Kia Sorento one week before the first major tennis championship of 2015 - with Kia's 'superhuman' brand ambassador, tennis star Rafael Nadal, revealing the car. In the run-up to the unveiling of the one-off model, Kia Motors is inviting fans of the X-Men franchise and the Korean car manufacturer to guess which X-Men character has inspired the car's unique design. Visitors who go to the Kia Motors Facebook page at http://bit.ly/KiaXmen can guess from four iconic X-Men characters: Storm, Wolverine, Mystique and Magneto. Fans guessing correctly will be entered into a prize draw to win a DVD copy of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

2015 Kia Soul EV Prototype

Spend a few days chatting with the good people of Seoul about their neighbors to the north, and you'll find a pattern emerges. When they first start talking, South Korea's citizenry speaks openly and ardently about seeking reunification with their North Korean brothers and sisters. Yet once you get beyond casual conversation, you'll find that those hopes and wishes aren't all that they first appear to be. Quite reasonably - and despite everyone's best intentions - there's genuine fear that opening the border with communist North Korea would severely tax South Korea's finances, infrastructure and daily lives. It's almost as if reunification feels like something the general public has to say they want, even if they're really not buying into the reality.
It's kind of like the way American consumers and the media have been crying out for electric and hybrid automobiles, yet when it comes time to vote with their pocketbooks, their hearts just aren't in it. There are potential financial and infrastructure concerns, along with lingering worries about how well EVs will integrate into their daily lives. Today, hybrids and plug-ins make up about three percent of new vehicle sales, and the vast majority of those models are gas-electric models - one in particular. Pure electrics aren't yet even a drop in a very large bucket. It's exactly this uncomfortable dichotomy that rings in our heads as we drive through the traffic in Namyang at the wheel of a 2015 Kia Soul EV prototype.
Of course, one can't blame Kia for developing an electric car - it has California's zero-emissions mandates to meet, regardless of whether the segment's sales suggest there's a sound financial strategy attached. Kia officials we spoke with at this early drive of the company's electrified 'box' car seemed to tacitly acknowledge the Soul EV's difficult business case, but pointed to the company's effort to reduce its CO2 output as part of its reason for being. And besides, their beancounters' industry-wide projection for global EV sales in 2018 is 600,000 units, so there's got to be room to grow, right?

Kia teases Geneva concept, is a Nissan Juke rival in the cards?

These four photos tell us most about the pomegranate-red concept Kia will be bringing to this year's 2013 Geneva Motor Show. An accompanying 66-word press release gives away nothing, so we're left to wonder if this is some kind of Nissan Juke rival that the South Korean company is toying with.
Even with the exaggerated dimensions of concept cars, this unnamed "urban concept car" looks somewhat larger than the average subcompact hatch, and there are some seriously Juke-ish lines around the rear three-quarter. This concept, however, appears to be a two-door model, unlike the Juke with its hidden rear handles, but that doesn't mean a production model couldn't add a couple of entry points.
We'll know for sure in March. You'll have to make the four high-res photos and those 66 words in the release below last until then.