Kia presented the new Trail’ster concept. The car shows us how the four-wheel drive production version of the Soul will look like.
It features a new front bumper which incorporates large headlights and an aluminum skid plate under the engine. It also has wider fenders, head lights that resemble those of the K900, while there are two LED bars on the ceiling and extra lights in the exterior mirrors.
The rear part of the car features a black bumper and LED lights. The Trail’ster is painted in white color (Polar Pearl Snowdrift), with a contrasting color (Terra Bronze Metallic) on the perimeter protection and ceiling. It has a sliding fabric roof, while it stands on 19 inch alloy wheels with red accents, and 245/45 winter tires.
The interior is almost the same as the interior of the Soul, bu changes are detected on the bigger gear selector, the switches for the four-wheel drive system and the red engine start button. The seats are covered with brown leather.
The car is equipped with a four-cylinder turbo 1.6 liter petrol engine producing 188 hp and 251 Nm torque, the power is transferred to the front axle via a six-speed automatic gearbox. The rear axle features an electri engine producing 36 hp and 136 Nm of torque, getting energy from a 1.2 kWh lithium-ion battery. This engine sends the power to the rear wheels, which practically transforms Trail’ster concept in four-wheel drive crossover.
The electric motor helps the combustion engine during acceleration, when more power and torque is required. Additionally, the motor is activated during off-road driving on wet roads and generally whenever the front wheels lose traction. The gasoline engine also acts as a generator charging the batteries during braking.
Because of the above hybrid system, the Trail’ster is about 25-30% more economical in fuel consumption in the city, and 5 to 10% on the highway, compared to the Soul.
