Kia Motors said Sunday its subcompact crossover Soul EV has been picked as the most competitive compact-size electric vehicle by German automotive magazine Auto Zeitung, beating rivals including BMW’s i3s and Nissan’s Leaf e+. 

Soul EV received the highest marks in most evaluation categories including body, driving comfort, powertrain and environment/cost, except in driving dynamics, winning 2,989 out of 5,000 points. BMW’s i3s and Nissan’s Leaf e+ received 2,894 points and 2,870 points, respectively. 

Auto Zeitung evaluated the Soul EV as “the most modern and perfect EV,” saying that the latest Soul EV has an impressive interior space and driving comfort as well as enough driving distance. 

The South Korean carmaker unveiled the new Soul EV model at Geneva Motor Show in March and began selling the model in Europe from May. 

The latest model offers a range of 452 kilometers based on a single charge of its 64kWh battery.

Since its launch in Europe in 2014, the sales of Soul EV have been steadily growing, from 3,286 units in 2016 to 3,405 in 2017 and 4,229 last year. 

From January to July this year, a total of 8,012 units of Soul EVs have been sold in Europe. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)