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Kia's Australian arm wants a Toyota Land Cruiser-like SUV

The team in charge of Kia's Australian division is asking the company's top brass for a rugged, body-on-frame SUV with Toyota Land Cruiser-like off-road capacity. The model could arrive quickly if it's approved for production. "We need probably one or two bigger [SUVs], to be quite honest. That would help us dramatically," affirmed Damien Meredith, the chief operating officer of Kia Australia, in an interview with Motoring. He added there's room above the Sorento for a new SUV, and he requested a sturdy model capable of towing and going off-road. In the United States, Kia's biggest SUV — and the largest car it has ever put its name on — is the well-received Telluride (pictured) released in 2019. It's not as tough as the body-on-frame model Meredith has in mind, and it's not sold in Australia because it's currently only available with left-hand drive. Kia would need to create a new model to challenge the Land Cruiser Prado (which is smaller than the standard model, and sold as the Lexus GX in the United States) and the Ranger-based Ford Everest in Australia, but it might not have to start from scratch. In 2019, Meredith confirmed Kia and sister company Hyundai are jointly developing a body-on-frame pickup aimed at Toyota's Tacoma-sized Hilux and the Ford Ranger, Australia's best- and second-best-selling vehicles in 2019. Kia could follow the path blazed by its rivals and turn its upcoming medium-sized truck into a family-friendly SUV. This strategy would give its Australian division the Land Cruiser-punching model it's asking for, while allowing it to leverage the benefits of economies of scale by sharing parts across several model lines. Kia stressed the SUV on Meredith's wish list hasn't been approved for production yet, so it's far too early to tell whether it will be available in the United States. Offering it outside of Australia is a must, though. Toyota sold 18,335 units of the Land Cruiser Prado on the Australian market in 2019; even if Kia tops it with 20,000 sales, that's not nearly enough volume to justify developing a new car, even one built on an existing platform. We'll have a better idea of what the future holds for Kia's global SUV range when the aforementioned trucks make their debut. Both are expected on sale by 2021, so they're around the corner, and neither has been confirmed for the American market yet; Hyundai's version is unrelated to the Santa Cruz also under development. Related Video:    

2014 Kia Soul SUV Styling Pack adds some aggression

Last month, Kia released a few photos of the European-market 2014 Soul ahead of its Frankfurt Motor Show reveal, and we happened to notice that the hamster box looked a bit different - a bit tougher. That's because Kia is adding an SUV Styling Pack to the car's options list, which includes the blacked-out lower fascias, wheel arches, side skirts and painted roof seen here.
At the time, we polled Autoblog readers if they thought bringing the optional visuals to SUV-happy North America was a good idea, and the voting split 70.3 percent in favor, 21.4 percent against, and 8.3 percent undecided.
At the present time, Kia representatives tell us that it has no plans to offer the SUV Styling Pack in our market, so you'll have to take a better look at it with our new gallery to decide whether its absence from North American order sheets is a tragedy or not.

Pope Francis chauffeured around Korea in a Kia Soul

Korea is not without its domestic automobiles that would be suitable for transporting a visiting head of state: the Hyundai Equus comes to mind. Failing that, a Genesis sedan would do the trick. Maybe even a Kia K900 or a Renault Samsung SM7. But those familiar with Pope Francis and his taste in transportation won't be surprised that His Holiness has chosen something decidedly more modest for his visit to South Korea.
Instead of a more luxurious sedan, the Bishop of Rome has elected to be driven in a Kia Soul, giving the high-roofed hatchback a bigger boost (in the Catholic world, at least) than any quantity of animated hamsters ever could.
The Soul, which was likely reinforced somewhat if the Swiss Guard got its way, was ready for the Holy Father upon his arrival. Francis slid into the back, rolled down the window and waved back at the welcoming party, including President Park Geun-hye. The Pope will reportedly be driven around in the Kia over the course of his five-day visit.