Kia Soul
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The xB will finally get some competition next fall with the all new, and better looking, Kia Soul.
I guess it would also be cheaper.
And with a smaller engine, get better mileage as well.
Life will be even tougher for the Scion breadbox when the new Nissan Cube shows up around the same time…
It looks interesting, but I think the Cube might be more of a Scion competitor.
Does it have the sane “Soul as a Cube or Scion?
Do you think the next FiT will be part of the party?
I thought that would be a very difficult car to make attractive once the beautiful concept car had to be altered for mass production.
Give Kia some credit. They did a really nice job of making that changes they had to make, yet still maintaining the overall feel of the concept, and still making it attractive looking as a production model.
Meanwhile, Ford announces reductions in production today and states (as we all knew long ago) that they will NOT return to profitability by 2009 as they once hoped.
Any bets on when we’ll be talking about the “former” US auto industry in the same way we’re currently talking about the “former” British car industry? At this rate, it may be coming even faster then we all think.
Mike,
Well hopefully cars from across the pound that Ford
makes will find themselves made here for US consumption and hopefully this will spin things in the right directions. Just take a look at the Ford Kuga.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxw9yW64CpY&NR=1
It is a shame that Jag and Range Rover as well
as British steel were taken over by Indian Tata.
The British govt. just slept. I hope Mercedes buys more shares in their stake and one day take it over
from the Indians…
Yep, I mentioned that in a comment on Vince’s post about the Kuga and C-Max possibly coming here.
It sure seems to me like Ford is completely clearing out the Mercury line so they can introduce these European models as Mercury’s, so they can justify the higher price point.
Others mentioned that they would almost have to make the cars in Mexico. I agree, which makes it even more likely that Ford will try to position the Euro models as Mercury’s – they may have finally found an ingenious method to make a reasonable profit on their smaller cars in the U.S.
(They need to try something different, and maybe desperate. Seeing trendy, attractive cars like this new Soul just makes Detroit seem that much further behind the curve.)
I just spent a week in a rented Cobalt – my first experience with electric steering.
Yikes.
5K miles and the thing had rattles in at least four different places. The 32mpg and decent handling were about the only redeeming qualities it had.
Despite my negativity, I really want the U.S. automakers to succeed. But just like in previous decades, they have their heads stuck in the past, and can’t (or won’t) turn on a dime, which is pretty much required for the fast changing, brave new world we now seem to be living in. 🙂