The hamster hatch will roll off into the sunset after a 17-year run.
We’ve lost a fair share of small and affordable cars over the years, but the funky little Kia Soul has soldiered on in the face of adversity. That is no longer the case, though, as the automaker confirms its foil for the long-dead Scion xB and Nissan Cube will itself die after the 2025 model year.
Why? Well, as ever, you almost certainly already know why. But in case you don’t, Kia America VP of sales Eric Watson spells it out in the company’s Monday annoucement: “We are proud of the legacy Soul will leave behind as it exits our lineup, but equally excited for the future of Kia’s expansive and award-winning utility vehicle lineup.” So there it is — Kia’s killing the Soul in favor of its plethora of crossovers including the similarly sized (but more expensive) Seltos.
Did we have a bunch of dancing hamsters for the Seltos, though? I think not.
Seriously, as goofy as Kia’s initial marketing campaign for the Soul was to some, dancing to popular tracks like Black Sheep’s “The Choice is Yours”, LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” and, for the metal lovers, Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades”, we all still remember it years later. More to the point, it sold a lot of Souls. In the model’s production run, Kia dealers sold more than 1.5 million examples.
The party’s pretty much been over for the past few years, though. While the first two generations sold extremely well, this third-generation Soul has struggled to crack 50,000 annual sales since 2023. It still beats the hybrid/electric Niro, but Kia’s likely hoping that eliminating one of its three subcompact models will push prospective buyers toward the Seltos instead (and you can get the Seltos with all-wheel drive, unlike the Soul).
With the 2025 Kia Soul being the last of its kind, the small crossover will cede its entry-level status to the Kia K4. The K4, for its part, now has a hatchback version as well, so that could be another driving force behind the Soul’s cancellation. If nothing but a Soul will do, though, Kia says a few thousand units are still at dealers to fill out the rest of the calendar year.
Come next year, though, you may have to do some Soul searching if you want to strike a deal on what is still one of Kia’s quirkiest modern cars. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself with that one.
