Electric Kia Soul planned for 2014

Kia has revealed that they will offer a battery electric version of the next generation Kia Soul when it arrives in 2014.

Hyundai may have seen the light and decided the future for cars lies with hydrogen fuel cell cars and not battery electric cars, but sister company Kia thinks differently.

It seems an odd polarity for the Korean siblings to take different routes to the future of powertrains for cars, but perhaps it’s just a case of hedging bets rather than an inability by Kia to see how impractical the BEV is as a replacement for a normal ICE car?

Still, unless they see sense in the meantime, Kia will launch a battery electric version of the next generation Kia Soul when it arrives in 2014, and Kia UK are lobbying to make sure Kia produces RHD versions for the UK. Really?

The odd looking – but strangely appealing – Kia Soul is Kia’s oldest model (even though it had a facelift a year ago) and is now surrounded by a new generation of Kia cars that are driving Kia’s UK sales ever upward – 23 per cent up this year on 2011 – so the Soul is the next Kia to get a makeover.

And maybe there is a place for the Kia Soul EV as a city runaround. But at the price it’s likely to be you’d have to be a misguided green evangelist to want one.

2012 Kia Soul Photos >>