2015 Kia Sorento on 2040-cars

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Kia Soul to get AWD?

The funky Kia Soul is one of the three affordable, efficient and style-first boxes on sale today (along with the Scion xB and Nissan Cube). Like its competition, it sits atop a front-drive platform with a longitudinally mounted four-cylinder engine.
It's a dandy car in this setup, but it sounds like Kia may be looking to differentiate the Soul from the herd by offering an optional all-wheel-drive system in the future. According to the report filed by Kia World, the popularity of the small, stylish crossover segment is expected to expand considerably over the coming years, especially overseas.
Citing the optional all-wheel drive on the Renault Captur, Ford Ecosport and Opel Mokka (Buick Encore in the US), along with the eventual arrival of a sub-Tiguan Volkswagen, called the Taigun, an all-wheel-drive Soul seems to make a lot of sense for these foreign markets. In the American market, meanwhile, AWD would open the Soul up to a new segment of buyers that like its looks but want all-wheel ability. Kia World is claiming the Soul AWD could hit markets in 2016 wearing a ruggedized version of the sheetmetal shown on the 2014 Soul that debuted in earlier this year in New York. Expect a bit of extra ground clearance to accompany the new drivetrain. Finally, all-wheel drive would likely only be available on the mid-range Soul + and top-spec Soul !.

Kia Cadenza preparing new look for 2016

It may have only been on the North American market for a few short years, but the Kia Cadenza is a fairly old warhorse, having hit global markets back in 2010. Considering that, it seems aptly timed for Kia to be testing a redesign of its second largest sedan. Our spies expect the new Cadenza to arrive in 2016 pioneering a new design language for the South Korean brand, which will also be featured on the new Optima. Based on the Kia Sportspace that's making its auto show debut at tomorrow's 2015 Geneva Motor Show, we should expect something more aggressive than the relatively benign sheetmetal of the current Cadenza. That said, it's difficult to pick out the Sportspace-inspired details in the attached spy photos. Kia's designers look to have retained the basic greenhouse shape of the current car, although the styling from the firewall forward and from the C-pillar back is too heavily camouflaged to really pick out anything more than the new headlights, quad foglights, the un-Sportspace-like grille and taillights. Check out our gallery of spy photos, and let us know what you think. Related Video:

2015 Kia Soul EV

You'd be forgiven if you weren't fully aware of this vehicle's existence. While the Soul EV is a big deal for Kia, as it marks the Korean brand's first foray into the world of pure electric vehicles here in the US, it simply has not a been able to garner much regard from the average car fan or, really, the automotive press.
As a green car, it has to be tough to compete with Elon Musk's remarkable ability to consistently hold our attention with nearly everything he touches at Tesla. Add that to the fact that the Soul EV doesn't offer a ton in the way of aesthetics to differentiate itself from its gasoline-powered sibling - save a few tweaks here and there - and its limited initial availability (CA only for now), and you end up with a vehicle that just isn't on a lot of people's radar. And that's too bad.
You see, none of the above is meant to imply that this is a bad car. In fact, as you read through our driving notes, you'll see that the reality is actually the opposite: Kia has a genuinely solid product on its hands.