Kia, represented in the UAE by Al Majid Motors Company, unveiled its long awaited Kia Soul, urban crossover passenger car, at the Abu Dhabi Motor Show.

Kia Soul is a cross over vehicle with a unique exterior combined with a roomy interior and multifunctional features, expected to be in the UAE by March 2009.

“The Kia Soul is a brand new vehicle which will challenge customers to free their minds. It is packed with clever and liberating features and will offer cavernous passenger space that matches or even outperforms many vehicles with much larger exterior dimensions,” said Samir Tayeh, president of Al Majid Motors- Kia.

The new Soul will go on sale with a choice of two gasoline engines and with manual or automatic transmission.

The most powerful engine will be a 2-litre gasoline unit producing 142 ps at 6,000 rpm and 186 Nm of torque at 4,600 rpm.  This engine will be offered with a five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic. 

A smaller capacity 1.6-litre gasoline engine will be offered in the UAE market. The all-aluminium gasoline engine generates 126 ps at 6,300 rpm and 156 Nm of torque at 4,200 rpm. 

It was also announced that Kia will be launching the new Cerato and Sorento into the UAE over the course of 2009.

For 2009, Kia is introducing an entirely new model of Cerato. The 2009 C segment car replaces the current Cerato and is available in both 1.6L & 2.0 L engines. Its UAE launch is expected for February 2009.

The new Sorento will replace the current model and is expected in June 2009.

Kia Motors also announced a 60 per cent sales increase on 2008.

The company also plans to open a newstate-of-the-art (4S) Kia facility in Abu Dhabi which will cover sales, service, spare parts & storage and will be spread over a total area of 25,000 sqm.-TradeArabia News Service