Kia Motors has premiered its first ethanol-gasoline powered model, the Soul Flex, at the 26th Salao Internacional do Automovel, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Designed for the Brazilian market, where flexible fuel models account for more than 85% of the new car sales, the vehicle can run on an ethanol-gasoline mixture, 100% ethanol or 100% gasoline.
The Soul Flex not only offers a 44% improvement in fuel efficiency compared to the petrol Soul, but improved power and torque as well, with 126 hp and 162 Nm being 3.2% and 3.7% better respectively than the petrol model.
Changes from the gasoline model include a newly adapted fuel injection and catalyst system as well as engine compression ratio. To accommodate the more abrasive nature of ethanol fuel, the fuel pump, pillar cap and fuel line have been reinforced, and a gasoline tank assistance system has been fitted to aid engine ignition at low temperatures.
Exports of the Soul Flex to Brazil begin this month, with the vehicle going on sale in the market early next year, and the company is planning to introduce the flex version of its Sportage SUV model at the end of 2011. Currently, Brazil is ranked second in the world in terms of ethanol production, and consequently its motorists enjoy the low cost of ethanol, which is 40% cheaper than gasoline.
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pls bring this in to mys. its gorgeous! i mean d car.
nice car … awesome gurls …
Will Naza bring this? anybody know?
:-o Naza Juara or Naza Rohani :-o
NAZA is very sloooow in bringing Kia mdels! They need to launch Sorento, Sportage, Soul. Many countries already have them and they are tremendously successful.
NAZA what are you waiting for? Compared to the Pug, Kia cars definately sells better.
I don’t think NAZA will bring in Soul any time soon (Sorento & Sportage, most probably lah). Malaysians generally don’t like boxy cars. In fact they call these cars “washing machine”, “refrigerator” etc.
nevermind the boxy design as long as the car got looks and style…..
It’s a shame that in Msia we don’t even have good grade fuel
and thus unable to enjoy a better range of fuel efficient cars.
what happened to our bio-fuel and all that jazz stuff?
Looking fwd to the” soul” in Msia.
dah sampai ke versi soul flex dah, bila lah nak masuk mesia ni wahai naza…
Saya minat soul ni tapi sudah bosan menunggunya. Naza sudah hilang satu pelanggan krana sudah beli kreta lain. Bye-bye Naza
If you read NST CBT, there was frequent (paid) column for Naza/Kia. They create anxiety for this KIA Soul but failed to indicate whether this car will be brought in or not. Why advertise when you do not have any real intention to bring it in? Was waiting for this since early this year for my wife. End up buying another small car.
NAZA Marion……………….
naza should bring this car here… this will definately kill the myvi popularity… hehehe…