Dealers will have four trim levels with which to lure the young and impressionable—Soul, Soul+, Soul ! , and the top-of-the-line Soul Sport. “!” is pronounced “exclaim,” although we’d have preferred a tribal clicking sound. As usual with cars marketed for boys and girls just starting to shave, more than 50 doodad accessories await them. The add-ons range from some curious decal shapes (such as those found on the Soul Burner concept) to multispeaker music-makers and, as noted earlier, fabric seats with the word “soul” woven in that will glow in the dark, possibly taking the breath away from the entire female population of the Oklahoma panhandle. Mostly, the wheels graduate from 15-inchers on the base to 18s on the Sport, with all nature of tinted windows and sunroofs and fog lights and key fobs separating the levels. (One really useful option, a rearview camera that projects the scene back there onto one-third of the rearview mirror, for some reason won’t be sold here. Go figure.) Enthusiasts smitten with the Soul should take note that the Sport offers a sportier suspension tune.

We think calling it the Soul was probably not a cool choice. Imagine Sophie Marceau or Jessica Simpson sidling up to the bar and inquiring as to what you drive. “Well, I drive a Soul.” Unnnhhh . Could be worse: We’re told a name high in the running was Offenbach, the German-born French composer. On second thought, that’s kinda cool.