Kia’s all-new Forte compact sedan that will replace the outgoing Cerato / Spectra models was unveiled in Korea this week. The new model will be available with a 124 HP 1.6-liter gasoline and a 128 HP 1.6-liter turbo diesel engine. Prices for the Forte in its home turf range from 11.9 million won (about $11,200) to 19.6 million won (approx $18,500), depending on the trim levels and engine types.

Kia has issued a new set of photos that include for the first time the interior along with more technical details of the Soul that’s scheduled to make its worldwide debut at the Paris Motor Show in a few weeks time. Set to go on sale in global markets early next year, the Korean subcompact car will be offered with a choice of two gasoline engines and one diesel engine with manual or automatic transmission (depending on individual markets).

Just over a week after it was announced that the Hyundai Genesis sedan scored a perfect 5-star rating in crash tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), another product of the Hyundai-Kia group, the Kia Borrego, managed to do the same. The seven-passenger midsize SUV achieved the highest rating possible, for all seating positions in both frontal and side impact crash tests.

The new Kia Soul was introduced today in Korea ahead of the subcompact vehicle’s world debut at the Paris Show in early October. The Korean automaker calls the Soul an “urban crossover” but we’d settle for a tall supermini with a few crossover design elements that will take on the likes of the Honda Fit / Jazz, maybe even the Opel Meriva when it goes on sale in Europe next February followed by the North America in April 2009.

Even though Kia has been releasing various pictures of its new wannabe-crossover for quite a while now, this is actually the first time we’ve seen photos of the Soul’s dashboard. While the styling isn’t groundbreaking, we reckon that the Soul’s contemporary cabin looks funky enough to appeal to the young or young-at-heart customers who will be pleased to know that in Europe at least, every Soul will be equipped with a standard RDS radio/CD player with MP3 compatibility and 112 watts output, plus six audio speakers.

Right after the Soul’s world debut in Paris, Kia released a mega image gallery of its funky proposal in the subcompact segment that will be arriving on international markets early next year. In Europe the Soul will be offered with a 1.6L gasoline and a 1.6L turbo diesel, while in the U.S. the Soul will only be available with a 2.0L gasoline engine. Hit the jump for the photo gallery that includes pictures of the Soul customized with various accessories and decals that Kia has readied for its new model with which it hopes to attract a younger audience to the brand.

A Kia fan has whipped up a couple of computer generated renderings based on the Korean automaker’s newest proposition in the sub-compact segment, the Soul which was recently revealed at the Paris motorshow. Kia-World forum member Kevin created a rather convincing three-door variant as well as a less inspiring soft-top convertible version of the Soul.

Even the new Kia Borrego SUV will make its way to next week’s 2008 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The Korean firm’s body-on-frame SUV has been taken into the loving care of Turbonetics which has prepared a variety of mechanical and styling modifications. The customized Borrego will feature among other things, a Gibson cat-back exhaust and K&N filter, a subtle bodykit complemented by 22-inch alloy wheels in Pirelli Scorpion Zero 265/40R22 tires and a Katzkin Leather interior with suede headliner and pillar wraps.

For this year’s SEMA Show KIA has readied a subtly customized version of its new Borrego midsize SUV. The concept combines a black exterior paintjob with limo-style tint windows and enough chrome detailing to make a ‘57 Chevy look underrated. The SUV has also been lowered for a sleeker profile and outfitted with gaudy 22-inch Avarus Chrome Wheels and Spec-X 285/45R22 tires. Open up the doors and you’re confronted with a custom-made leather interior boasting what appears to be alligator-skin (hopefully faux…) inserts on the seats. We’ll probably forget this concept in less time than it takes an F1 car to go from naught to 60.

We wouldn’t go as far as calling it a leak as the Kia Soul has already been revealed at the Paris Show  but nonetheless, the first pictures of the U.S.-spec subcompact wannabe-crossover have made their way into the blogosphere. The photos are accompanied by a second set of images from a scanned brochure that show us the options that are being made available to the Canadian-spec model. The Soul will make its first public appearance on U.S. soil at the LA Auto Show on November 19 with sales scheduled to begin in early 2009.