Kia Soul at 2011 Frankfurt motor show

 IT looks like it should wear a bow and appear at birthday parties but the success of the Kia Soul is no laughing matter.The present box on wheels soon gets a bigger engine and more appeal to boost its value.

It is selling its socks off in Europe and while Australia isn’t too sure, it’s become one of the preferred mobile advertising billboards and a surprise winner with elderly motorists.That comes as the biggest surprise to Kia who expected the Soul to knock the socks off the  youth market.

Instead, says Kia Australia marketing manager Steve Watt, it has become popular with the more mature buyer who like the high seating position and versatile interior. The slab-sided box shape has become a winner with advertising companies and private businesses who want to shout their wares.

Kia says the updated Soul gets here early in 2012, a year after its first showing at the New York motor show.

Australia picks up the 2-litre “Nu” engine as an option to the 1.6-litre petrol and 1.6-litre turbo-diesel. It will be the first time the Nu engine makes an appearance in Australia and precedes its inclusion in some other small Kia models later in 2012.

Unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show today, the European-spec Soul only gets the 1.6-litre engines.

Australia will get more engines and the choice of six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmissions but misses out on a few small details, including the LED daytime running lights and tail ights as shown on the US-spec model at the New York show.

There will aso be no GTI engine - a turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol - for Australia as it’s only destined for the US. Kia Australia spokesman Kevin Hepworth says “the fact Ausrtalia misses out on the GTI engine is why we get the new 2-litre engine’’.

The car gets an external  refresh with a bigger front air dam and, at the rea, a bigger black bumper insert panel, plus 18-inch alloys and new door handles.Inside is a revised centre console design, circular LCD ventilation controls and new fabrics. Europe gets an optional EcoDynamics pack, which includes Kia’s ISG (stop-start system) and AMS (alternator management) which the company says cuts emissions to 125g/km CO2 for the diesel and 139g/km CO2 for the petrol models.