Kia Soul EV beats German and Japanese EVs in Europe

The New Soul EV, which Kia Motors started selling in May, has beat rival electric vehicles of BMW and Nissan in an eval‎uation of small EVs to rank first overall in the segment.

According to Kia Motors on Sunday, the German automobile magazine “Auto Zeitung” in its latest issue compared the Soul EV with BMW’s i3s and Nissan’s Leaf e+ among compact EVs sold in Europe. In the assessment, the Soul EV earned 2,989 points of the possible 5,000 points, easily defeating BMW’s i3s (2,894 points) and Nissan’s Leaf e+ (2,870 points). Auto Zeitung is known as one of the most trusted automotive magazines in Germany along with Auto Bild and Auto Motor Und Sport.

In the eval‎uation category of the automotive body, the Soul EV earned the top score in terms of sense of openness in the rear seats, and max load. In the category of driving comfort, the vehicle acquired high marks in seat comfort, suspension, air conditioning system, ergonomic design, and warranty.

Kia Motors unveiled the new Soul EV at the Geneva International Motor Show in Mach for the first time in Europe and started selling the vehicle there in May. The Soul EV, which is adopting 64kWh, high-capacity, high voltage battery, can drive up to 452 kilometers (European standard) on a single charge.

After making a foray into Europe for the first time in 2014, the Soul EV received the “2015 Norwegian Vehicle of the Year” among other awards, has continued to strengthen its market prowess in the European EV market, with 3,286 units sold in 2016, 3,405 in 2017, and 4,229 in 2018, respectively.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com