2020 Kia Soul debuts sharp new look, improved EV variant

[MUSIC] Kia's quirky boxy hamster mobile is back. Meet the 2020 Kia Sol and Kia Sol EV. Now the Sol features a much more aggressive and angry look. Now personally, I really like the friendly approachable face of the old Sol, but I can get behind this angry Sol. I like what they're doing here. The new look is much more angular and features narrow headlamps that connect in the front. And my personal favorite new styling feature is out back where the C shaped LED tail lights connect at the top and bottom reflector making it look like a full circle. It's really nice. Now the gasoline Soul will be available with two engines at launch, a two-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder that makes 147 horsepower. Or a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine that makes 201 ponies. Both are gonna be front wheel drive. Now the Electric Soul also makes 201 horsepower but steps up its game with 291 pound feet of torque. That should make for really good acceleration. Now the battery pack is a lithium ion cell that 64 kilowatt hours. That's twice as big as the previous generation. Range has not been announced, but the Kia Nero EV uses a very similar electric powertrain and the same size battery pack. And it gets around 239 miles of EPA-estimated range. So we're expecting this to be another Volt fighter. Now whether you go electric or gas, the new Soul will be available with a massive 10.25 inch infotainment system in the dashboard, that looks real familiar to the Kia K900 luxury sedan. That means it's gonna have a really cool split-screen design, and standard Android Auto and Apple Car play. And of course for this generation, we've got a lot of new safety tech, both standard and optional, part of Kia's DriveWise suite of driver aid technologies. Pricing hasn't been announced but the gasoline Soul goes on sale in 2019, so we expect to learn more about it then. And it'll be followed up by the Soul EV later that year. Check out the rest of our coverage on the 2018 LA Auto Show for even more cool debuts like this one. And check us out over on theroadshow.com to learn more about these cars. [MUSIC]