Kia Debuts "Koup" Concept Car
Not to be confused with Reagan's Surgeon General, Dr. Koop, Kia debuts the Koup concept car today. It's a classic "beats the Scion tC at its own game" move by being a reasonably nicely shaped four-seat FWD sport coupe. The concept engine – which Kia says is real and functional – is a hopped-up turbo four with 290 horsepower…. unfortunately routed to the front wheels. What this concept should mean to you is a realistic preview of the upcoming (and disappointingly, not revealed this week) Kia Spectra sedan and coupe. Considering the current model has been on sale since 2000-2001, it's about frickin' time. Still, if they can bring something that looks like this into actual production, PR Director Alex Fedorak's hope of "standing out in traffic" might inch closer from PR dreamland to real life.
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Hot looking! Oh, and the car looks okay too...
Nice photo of the, er, car. 290 hp through the front wheels? What gymnastics have they gone through to eliminate torque steer? Mazda de-tuned the turbo4 for use in the Mazdaspeed3 versus the Mazdaspeed6 to keep torque steer under control. Is Kia going to electronically limit hp in 1st gear? Some new magical front suspension set up? Or, just expect the drivers to muscle the car into a straight line when they floor it?
More like Korean Civic knock-off concept car.
I think this is pretty close to production like the Soul is. Change the headlights and the engine and you have it. I'd guess this could very easily be the next version of the Spectra in coupe form. The Spectra is built off the Elantra platform and the first/second gen Tiburon were built off the same platform so it's not a stretch to think they are doing the same thing here. The engine won't make it in a forced induction mode, or if it did it would be detuned from the 290. Hyundai corp has a history of putting much higher hp engines into their concepts than actually make it to production.