Special thanks to our viewer Dan, who sent in some great images of the 2020 Kia Soul Prototype parked in Chicago, IL. We know Kia is going to move onto the 3rd generation of it’s charismatic boxy hatchback. Prototypes are testing and we are getting a better idea of how Kia will tweak the Soul for 2020. In this article, we are going to breakdown what changes we know to be coming to the 2020 Soul and what details we still don’t know.
Styling
From the spy shots courtesy of our friend Dan, we can see that Kia looks to be seriously updating the styling for the 2020 Kia Soul. While the overall shape remains similarly boxy to the last one, the front end looks like it will see some distinct changes. The most visible difference has to be the headlights. It looks like Kia is going with a much thinner headlight design, as well as a different grill to mark the third generation.
Powertrains
What we don’t know a whole lot about is the different powertrain options that will be available for the 2020 Kia Soul. The current Soul offers your choice of a three four-cylinder powerplants, ranging from the 130 horsepower, naturally-aspirated 1.6-liter engine to the 201 horsepower turbocharged version. There is also the Kia Soul EV, which offers 111 miles of range and 210 lb-ft of instantaneous torque.
We think the new Soul will keep, at the very least, its turbocharged 1.6L and the EV option for 2020. The question we have is whether or not the Soul will have AWD. Kia has made a concept version of the AWD Soul, called the Trail’ster. However, it featured a hybrid drivetrain and has not been put into production.
Reveal in LA?
Hopefully, all our questions about the 2020 Kia Soul will be answered soon. The Los Angeles Auto Show is right around the corner, and we have a sneaking suspicion that Kia will use the LA show to unveil the 2020 Kia Soul.
Of course, we will be in LA covering the 2018 LA Auto Show from the ground. Stay tuned to TFLcar on YouTube for video coverage of all the new car reveals.
We have our own video of the new Kia Soul prototype testing in the mountains, you can check out that video below:
