I’ve been reading the comment section on this thread with interest and I wanted to shed some light on the origin of the Kia Soul story that harks back to the now discontinued Toyota brand called “Scion”.
Back in 2006 when I was at school doing my Masters at UBC we did a Harvard Business School case study so some of the information is courtesy “HBR” however it has been 15 years and I have to rely on my now failing memory
. I must mention that we did more 100 case studies and there were only 3 that dealt with car companies and two other pertained to BMW.
In mid-90s in a market study commissioned by Toyota, it was revealed that the median age of a Toyota buyer is 54 years. Alarm bells went off in Toyota USA’s head office with the realization that they are losing on a whole host of customers below the subject age threshold. Upon further research, Toyota’s market researchers realized that the mainstream automotive brands are alienating the Gen Y youngsters and they no longer identify with their staid marketing/advertising and boring product lineup. After a very exhaustive discussion that lasted more than a year the Marketing team at Toyota US then came up with the idea of launching a new brand that will carry cars that will not only create some buzz in the market and also resonate well with the gen Y.
Scion xB
In 2004 Scion launched Scion xB. It was quirky, boxy, and relatively small and had very different interiors; basically, almost everything that cars such as Civic or Corolla were not. The car was a big hit among youngsters although Toyota was aware that they will not be able to mobilize big numbers such as those garnered by Corolla but I guess the thought was that Gen Y youngsters in their late 20s will graduate to cars such as Corolla and so Toyota will have a loyal customer base right at the age when they start to learn to drive. Other models were also launched but most of these never really gained much traction.
This strategy did work for a few years but eventually petered out and Scion brand was merged back into Toyota in 2016. During its entire life (2003-2015) Scion sold 1.1 million cars in total. The last Scion car on sale in North America was Scion FR-S which is now known as Toyota 86.
Nissan Cube
Emulating the same strategy Nissan also launched Nissan Cube in 2009 targeting the same segment. The car though loved by critics and its intended audience never really managed to gain a foothold in the North American market and was pulled in 2014.
Kia latched onto the same concept and launched Soul in US and Canadian market in 2009. The car has undergone three model changes and proven to be the most resilient of the lot and is still on sale. Kia Soul hit its peak in 2015 with more than 200,000 cars sold in US & Canada however it has been on the decline since. In 2020 Kia managed to sell only 80,000 units in the North American market.
Kia Soul
Initially, I was struggling to understand how this car will perform in India. In the North American market Kia Soul starts at roughly the same price level as entry-level Honda CIVIC (yes, that’s not a typo). Okay in all fairness, it comes with 2 ltr. 4 cylinder 147 bhp engine that is unlikely to make it to India. It is about $2,000 cheaper as compared to Kia Seltos. Assuming the Kia will strip it down to bare essentials but even then it will not work out to less than Rs 9 to 11 lacs (ex-showroom). The length of the car is 4195mm so it will lose out on the sub 4 metre tax concessions as well.
Though I’m not very much conversant with the Indian automobile market, I assume at this price point there are many attractive options available to the consumer. But then again if Hyundai can sell its i20 (the superior variants) at that price level then Kia might pull out a proverbial rabbit out of the hat and price it between Rs 8 to 12 lacs with multiple variants kitted to the hilt and they will have a winner on their hands yet again. Besides in the looks department, a lot of folks might actually prefer Kia Soul over its Hyundai cousins (though in my personal opinion it is not particularly a good-looking car by any means). It will resonate well with the folks who are not particularly smitten by the SUVs (cars on stilts really) and would prefer a boxy hatchback.
Kia is on a roll and at least in the Indian context can teach most other automotive manufacturers a thing or two about automotive Marketing, Manufacturing & Sales.