Kia Bares Its Souls

In its search for a car to take on the "urban jungle," Kia unveiled three "Soul" concepts designed to test public opinion. Reaction to the Soul Burner, Diva and Searcher will help determine which elements make it into the production version of the Soul, which Kia Motors Europe President Kwang-Ho Nam promised to unveil at the Paris motor show this fall.

In each case, Kia's designers have taken the same basic vehicle and added radically different styling elements, plus a couple of different body panels, and produced a set of cars with very different personalities.

Soul Burner is the cool, vigorous rebel. Fat tires, aggressive red highlighting on air intakes, matte gray alloys and mirror housings, a squared-out roof line emanate attitude, while the brooding matte black paint finish is highlighted here and there with glossy black-on-black graffiti-like highlights in a dragon motif. Inside dazzling red trim dominates the fascia and door panels, there's an industrial-feel gearlever, and red rings of light pulsate from the oversized speaker panels.

If Burner is a feast of testosterone, then Soul Diva is unmistakably feminine. Supposed to appeal to "fashion-conscious, young-at-heart women," it is pure "bling." Sparkling white paint finish and gold highlights, quilted fake leather seats, and black" deep pile carpet certainly make it a car for the flashy and confident. Gold trimmed controls and all-white fascia and plastics complete the picture.

Finally, if all that is too attention seeking, then maybe Soul Searcher is the one for you. It has a muted green and gray two-tone paint, panoramic concertina roof, and textured soft-touch materials on interior surfaces and even the tailgate, and an interior color scheme featuring light and dark fabrics and plastics. Soul Searcher may be the introvert of this trio, but it is hardly inconspicuous.

Anything but subtle, the Soul project concepts are bold expressions of character. Thought-provoking as showcars, they are likely just too brash to form comfortable long-term companions.

Nevertheless the car's basic architecture (the size of a supermini but with the right mix of SUV styling elements to be attractive without being socially unacceptable) is exactly in line with the current trends in customer demand. The challenge now for Kia is to decide what mix of these very divergent design elements to include in the production car. You can't please everyone all of the time.