Kia has confirmed the 2025 model year of its funky and fun Soul hatchback will be its last. On sale for the last 16 years through three generations of design, the Soul has been an important cornerstone in Kia’s success here in North America. Unfortunately, its sales have fallen precipitously since the debut of the third-generation Soul in 2019. Where the Soul’s annual sales were once a six-digit number, it struggled to exceed 50,000 sales in 2024, and the pace so far in 2025 has been even worse.
- Base Trim Engine
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2L I4 ICE
- Base Trim Transmission
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CVT
- Base Trim Drivetrain
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Front-Wheel Drive
- Base Trim Horsepower
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147 HP @6200 RPM
- Base Trim Torque
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132 lb.-ft. @ 4500 RPM
- Base Trim Fuel Economy (city/highway/combined)
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29/35/31 MPG
- Make
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Kia
- Model
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Soul
- Segment
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Subcompact SUV
America’s love affair with the Soul while it was on sale was real, though. The tall hatchback approximated the look of an SUV without the elevated price. The Soul’s styling was also unique, youthful, and charming. While Kia designers were aiming for the youth market with the car’s design, the automaker discovered over time that it was beloved by older customers, too. That combination of a playful design, affordable price, and SUV-like accommodations was an easy sell, but Kia added fuel to the fire with one of the most successful automotive marketing campaigns for the Soul, starring a troupe of dancing hamsters.
The History Of Soul
Having debuted in concept form at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show, the Soul officially entered production in 2009. Its design was distinctly American, having been penned at Kia’s design center in California. The lore is that its styling was inspired by a nature documentary about wild boars, which Kia’s designers had watched. They then translated the idea of a “boar with a backpack” into mechanical form and created the Soul.
The famous Kia Soul hamsters began appearing in commercials for the car almost immediately. The campaign was created by Los Angeles-based ad agency David&Goliath. It received the “Automotive Ad of the Year” award and the hamsters were inducted into the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame. Kia used the hamsters to sell the Soul from the car’s introduction in 2009 through 2017.
The first generation of the Soul gave way to the second in 2014. Larger with more mature styling, the second-gen Soul would prove to be the most popular with four of its five model years selling over 100,000 units. Its best year of sales was 2016, when 154,768 Souls were sold. This generation also marked the first appearance of the Soul EV, which had a sub-100-mile range in early models but was very pleasant to drive.
The third-generation Soul debuted for the 2020 model year and featured sharper, more futuristic styling with slim headlights and a large lower grille. Whether because of the car’s styling or external factors — the pandemic, the rise of EVs, or American consumers’ growing preference for nicer, more expensive SUVs — the Soul began to falter. While it once represented Kia’s rebel spirit, the Soul was now awash in a full lineup of SUVs, including the Seltos, which was similarly sized but offered AWD.
While the Soul was never offered with AWD, and thus was never fully considered an SUV, it did receive some interesting upgrades over the years. Those include the addition of more powerful turbocharged engines, an all-electric model, and trim levels that highlight either performance or off-road ruggedness. There were also many Soul concepts, including the truck-like Soul’ster Concept (2009), the high-performance Track’ster Concept (2012), and the off-road Trail’ster Concept (2015).
TopSpeed’s Take
The Kia Soul should be a case study in business schools on how best to launch and market a product. Most of the credit goes to the Soul’s design, which instantly gave Kia a vehicle of its own that was both cool and different. The inherent charm of its styling changed over successive generations, but a common thread remained. Of course, those hamsters did their job well, too.
What many eulogies of the Soul haven’t mentioned, though, is what a screaming deal the Soul was over the years. For most of its 16-year life, the Soul had a starting price under $20,000, significantly so in its early years. Kia also made the Soul available with high-end features such as a large infotainment screen, a heated steering wheel, cooled seats, and push-button start. Back in the day, a fully loaded Soul was outfitted like a mini luxury car and only cost around $25,000.
There are a number of TopSpeed team members who have been satisfied owners of a Kia Soul at some point in their lives. Its cancellation, while not entirely surprising, is still disappointing. Hopefully, after some time has passed, Kia’s Soul will be resurrected as something new for a different age. After all, the Soul is eternal.