Since its introduction into the Philippine Market, the Kia Soul has become the choice for the young, confident auto-buyer that also has a taste for the individual and unique. Columbian Autocar Corporation (CAC), the distributor of Kia vehicles in the Philippines, has expressed their satisfaction with bringing in a vehicle that you can easily pick out in traffic in the sea of similar silhouettes.
The market for the Kia Soul not only values uniqueness in its aesthetics but also for the innovation in technology that has become a hallmark of the vehicle. Kia has selected the Soul as the platform for some of their most daring developments in the field of automotive engineering.
The Soul is available as a futuristic, fully Electric Vehicle and is also Kia’s chosen test vehicle for the development of their Autonomous Driving technology.
CAC first introduced the Kia Soul to the Philippines in August of 2009. At the time, Kia engineers were already in the early stages of developing their 7-speed Dual Clutch Transmission or DCT in their Namyang, South Korea Research and Development facility. It was introduced to the market in 2015 aboard the Kia Cee’d GT-Line and eventually found its way into the Kia Soul in late 2016 with CAC making it available to the Filipino public in 2017.
While based on a manual transmission, driving the Soul DCT is as easy as any other car with an automatic transmission. By separating odd and even gears into separate clusters, each operated by its own independent clutch, the DCT combines the smooth and easy gear changes of an automatic transmission with the fuel economy benefits that are associated with manual transmissions. In the Soul, this translates to an average of 5% improvement in acceleration times and a 7% improvement in fuel efficiency.
More than just its standout looks, the Soul also stands out for what the consumer doesn’t see. The technologies that Kia has imparted to the Soul, speaks to a consumer base that is just as confident, unique and technology-savvy as the vehicles they drive.
Get to know more about DCT and the other technological developments found in the Kia Soul with the help from one of Kia’s knowledgeable sales representatives at a dealership near you.