Check out this link to see the video and a few more pix!
http://www.autospies.com/news/EXCLUSIVE-SPIED-First-Photos-AND-Video-Of-The-2013-Hyundai-Santa-Fe-I-Heart-CAYENNE-71116/
Showing posts with label Hyundai News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hyundai News. Show all posts
Autospies.com Catch the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe in the wild
I will have to admit, I am not the biggest Hyundai fan (not just because I am a Honda fan) but I do really like what they've done with the Santa Fe and the Sonata over the recent years. The front end is a nice improvement to the Santa Fe....
Our resident '00' Fred Khaz is up to his old tricks today as he not only got these FIRST PHOTOS of the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe but VIDEO as well!
Check out this link to see the video and a few more pix!
http://www.autospies.com/news/EXCLUSIVE-SPIED-First-Photos-AND-Video-Of-The-2013-Hyundai-Santa-Fe-I-Heart-CAYENNE-71116/
Check out this link to see the video and a few more pix!
http://www.autospies.com/news/EXCLUSIVE-SPIED-First-Photos-AND-Video-Of-The-2013-Hyundai-Santa-Fe-I-Heart-CAYENNE-71116/
New Hyundai Santa Fe brochure photos from Korea
The all-new Hyundai Santa Fe 2013 (Model Year) breaks cover!Thanks to Hyundai fans and enthusiasts living in South Korea, the home land of Hyundai Motor Company, we are bringing you exclusive photos of the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe brochure!
The leaked brochure, which hit the web today, provides us with the very first good look at the next-generation Hyundai Santa Fe CUV styling details and highlights some of the vehicle’s most notable features.
Salted to make its worldwide debut at the forthcoming New York Auto Show, the all-new Santa Fe CUV embodies a modern design called “Storm Edge” which gives the vehicle a strong and dynamic exterior appearance.
Completing the stylish exterior layout of the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe are advanced safety and luxury features, such as knee airbag, lane departure warning system, smart parking assist system, Blue Link infotainment system and many others.
Apparently, the Korean-market Santa Fe crossover also features a revised 2.0L diesel engine, which achieves 17 km/l (or approximately 5.88 L/100km).
Stay tuned for more 2013 Santa Fe news and information coming out soon as we are closing on its official worldwide debut!
Source;
http://www.hyundai-blog.com/hyundai-santa-fe-2013-brochure
2013 Hyundai Santa Fe previewed on Twitter ahead of NY reveal
Very nice....
By Alex Nunez
In a lineup packed with new and/or freshly styled vehicles, Hyundai's two larger crossovers, the Santa Fe and its all-but-forgotten three-row counterpart, the Veracruz, still wear the automaker's last-generation styling language. That will be addressed (in part, at least) at next month's New York Auto Show when Hyundai unveils the 2013 Santa Fe.
To get people talking, Hyundai published two renderings of its new CUV this evening via its Twitter feed. Predictably, the 2013 Santa Fe gets sharper lines that are much more in keeping with the rest of the model lineup, and the new face validates a spy photo that hit the web back in January.
Hyundai calls the crossover's fresh styling language "Storm Edge," saying it's an evolution of the "Fluidic Sculpture" theme it's been using the last few years.Based on the the profile shot, which shows a very small window aft of the rear doors, it appears that the Santa Fe will, for the time being, continue to be a two-row crossover (its optional third row was canned after the 2009 model year) that's designed to battle the likes of the Nissan Murano, Ford Edge, and Toyota Venza.
Whether Hyundai will also use the occasion to formally confirm the rumored long-wheelbase, three-row variant to replace the Veracruz remains to be seen. It's clear the automaker knows that it's hurting in that department.
Source;
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/10/2013-hyundai-santa-fe-previewed-on-twitter-ahead-of-ny-reveal/
By Alex Nunez
In a lineup packed with new and/or freshly styled vehicles, Hyundai's two larger crossovers, the Santa Fe and its all-but-forgotten three-row counterpart, the Veracruz, still wear the automaker's last-generation styling language. That will be addressed (in part, at least) at next month's New York Auto Show when Hyundai unveils the 2013 Santa Fe.
To get people talking, Hyundai published two renderings of its new CUV this evening via its Twitter feed. Predictably, the 2013 Santa Fe gets sharper lines that are much more in keeping with the rest of the model lineup, and the new face validates a spy photo that hit the web back in January.
Hyundai calls the crossover's fresh styling language "Storm Edge," saying it's an evolution of the "Fluidic Sculpture" theme it's been using the last few years.Based on the the profile shot, which shows a very small window aft of the rear doors, it appears that the Santa Fe will, for the time being, continue to be a two-row crossover (its optional third row was canned after the 2009 model year) that's designed to battle the likes of the Nissan Murano, Ford Edge, and Toyota Venza.
Whether Hyundai will also use the occasion to formally confirm the rumored long-wheelbase, three-row variant to replace the Veracruz remains to be seen. It's clear the automaker knows that it's hurting in that department.
Source;
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/10/2013-hyundai-santa-fe-previewed-on-twitter-ahead-of-ny-reveal/
Bloomberg: Billionaire Chung Shows Hyundai Luxury No Joke Chasing BMW: Cars
I can't say that I am the biggest fan of Hyundai/Kia, but there's no denying that they have come a long way in both quality but brand recognition. This is a really good artical on where Hyundai has been and where they want to go, very informative!
Chairman Chung Mong Koo is paving the way for his son, Chung Eui Sun, to take over.
Wearing a blue pinstriped suit, blue sweater and red tie, the 73-year-old son of Hyundai’s founder praises workers for building the world’s fifth-largest automaker. Then he considers the year ahead. Europe’s debt crisis will trim global growth, Chung says, yet he sees a bright side: Hyundai will have time to improve quality to take on the likes of BMW and Mercedes -- making a full-speed run at becoming what he calls an ilryu giup, a global top player, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its April issue.
With unbridled ambition, clout unmatched in most executive suites and workers who labor more hours than almost any on earth, Chung has fashioned Hyundai Motor Group into South Korea’s second-biggest chaebol and elevated the motor company to its centerpiece.
Excel to Equus
Once known as the builder of cheap, utilitarian urban cars like the $4,995 Excel subcompact, Hyundai has emerged as an industry contender. It makes vehicles in nine countries with a 2012 lineup that includes the $12,545 Accent and the $59,000 Equus premium sedan. Its Elantra compact won acclaim in January when Detroit automotive journalists named it North American Car of the Year.
“Chung is working night and day to prove the Koreans are as good as anybody,” says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. “This is drive and determination of the first order. It’s helping shift the weight of history back to Asia.”
Dead last in J.D. Power & Associates quality surveys in 1994, Hyundai Motor spent years as fodder for late-night comedians. Chung, whose father built postwar Korea’s bridges and expressways, took over in 1998. He bought Kia from creditors during a bankruptcy auction that year and insisted his cars would match the quality of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) He backed that claim with a 10-year engine warranty, still among the industry’s longest.
In 2005, as Korea’s won strengthened against the U.S. dollar, Chung ordered cost cutting to ensure the automaker would earn money even if the won surged. The company opened its first U.S. assembly plant that year.
The carmaker’s profit increased 35 percent to 8.1 trillion won in the 2011 calendar year; revenue climbed 16 percent to 77.8 trillion won. Operating profit margin was triple Toyota’s 3.08 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Investors are taking note. Hyundai Motor shares more than tripled since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s September 2008 bankruptcy, trading at 216,000 won on Feb. 29.
During that time, U.S. carmakers cut 100,000 jobs, or one in seven. General Motors Co. (GM) and Chrysler Group LLC struggled through bankruptcy as Toyota wrestled with an 8-million-vehicle recall for unintended acceleration, earthquakes and floods.
“I’m quite comfortable Hyundai will continue to outperform its peers in a highly competitive market,” says Christopher Yip, an analyst in Hong Kong for Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Group Inc. Yip’s firm began investing in Hyundai Motor in 2004 and held 650,612 shares on Sept. 30.
Chung is riding the surge. The value of his public stockholdings in five companies in the Hyundai chaebol was $6.01 billion on Feb. 29. The shares of his only son and heir apparent, Chung Eui Sun, 41, totaled $2.4 billion, Bloomberg data show.
In its growth drive, Hyundai Group has stirred up some investor concerns. Standard & Poor’s complained in August that Chung’s crossholdings in chaebol companies let him handpick directors. Shareholders question whether last year’s $4.4 billion purchase of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (000720), which builds subways in the Philippines and power plants in Iraq, was a stroke of business acumen or a ploy to gain the upper hand in a family feud. And no one can assess how Eui Sun will perform when he becomes chairman because his father keeps him on a tight leash.
“Nobody should underestimate Chung,” says Keller, who’s now an independent consultant in Stamford, Connecticut. “He has total control, and he’s determined to use great design and leading-edge technology so he won’t get left behind.”
Ultimately, Chung may do in cars what Korea’s No. 1 chaebol, Samsung Group, has accomplished in televisions: push Japanese rivals into decline, says Kei Nihonyanagi, a Barclays Capital analyst in Tokyo. From 2004 to 2010, Sharp Corp. and Sony Corp. (6758) cut their LCD TV prices by almost two-thirds to match Samsung, Nihonyanagi says.
“The key management issue for Japanese automakers is to again surpass Hyundai in cost and quality,” he says.
“As Hyundai came out with high-quality products, the Japanese were complacent,” Yamanouchi says.
Volkswagen AG (VOW) CEO Martin Winterkorn praises Hyundai for doing what his company can’t. In a video that’s gone viral, Winterkorn was filmed in September seated in Hyundai’s i30 hatchback at the Frankfurt Motor Show and lauding the adjustable steering column.
“Nothing rattles,” he says. “Why can they do it? BMW can’t. We can’t.”
‘Stop the Koreans’
The ever-ambitious Chung is making a run at Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the world’s top luxury-car seller. At the Chicago Auto Show in February, the company showed off a concept car that hints at its strategy for building a direct competitor to the BMW 3-Series, the top-selling premium compact. The Kia GT features a low-slung front end and a 3.3-liter V-6 engine generating 390 horsepower -- just 40 hp less than the 6.2-liter V-8 in Chevrolet’s base-model Corvette.
Hyundai’s Genesis sedan comes with a 3.8-liter, 333-hp V-6, an eight-speed automatic transmission and a $34,200 price tag. Similar models from BMW and Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes cost at least $5,000 more.
“Genesis has taken away enough buyers from other brands to establish Hyundai as a real player in the luxury market,” says Alexander Edwards, president for automotive research at San Diego-based Strategic Vision Inc. “In five years, if history is any guide, BMW and Mercedes could be asking, ‘How are we going to stop the Koreans?’”
Fuel Cells
Hyundai is already challenging Daimler -- the inventor of the first mass-produced internal combustion engine 127 years ago -- in an area where the German company claims leadership: fuel cells. By the end of 2012, Yang Woong Chul, vice chairman for research, expects Hyundai to produce 2,000 fuel-cell vehicles a year at about $100,000 apiece, or twice the price Toyota plans to charge when its cars come out in 2015. Hyundai could match Toyota’s price by 2015, when production could grow to 20,000, he says.
Christian Mohrdieck, Daimler’s director for fuel-cell development, says his company confirmed its fuel-cell supremacy with 18,600-mile, four-continent test drives last year.
Helicopter to Dangjin
Chung, a vigorous septuagenarian who has been test-driving fuel-cell prototypes, sets a pace that keeps Hyundai hopping. He arrives at the 21-story twin-towers headquarters at 6:30 most mornings, prompting executives to rush to their desks by 6:20. Salarymen, the middle managers in gray or black sweaters, leave after sundown.
Engineers feel pressure 6,000 miles away in Costa Mesa, California. Erwin Raphael, director of engineering and quality at Hyundai Motor America, says his department responds almost daily to queries from Chung and other executives about existing or potential problems. In a similar Chrysler job, Raphael heard from top management once or twice a quarter, he says.
Chung personally heads monthly quality reviews with senior executives -- and sets high expectations.
‘Like a Tank’
When Hyundai Steel Co. (004020), the sister company that supplies metal for a third of Hyundai vehicles, was building three blast furnaces, Chung supervised. He took a helicopter 40 miles to Dangjin three or four times a week to oversee the $8 billion effort, says Cho Won Suk, senior executive vice president.
“He’s like a tank,” Kim says. “His insight is very strong.”
Here, Hyundai imports components from Asia and snaps them together with low-wage firms, including chaebol member Hyundai Mobis (012330), the world’s No. 8 automotive supplier. With 2,650 workers making 1,370 cars each day, the Montgomery, Alabama, Hyundai Motor plant has the highest productivity of any North American vehicle assembly factory, an entrance-hall banner citing Harbour & Associates announces. Ron Harbour, president of the Harbour & Associates unit of Oliver Wyman, declined to comment.
At nearby Hyundai Mobis, some 1,000 workers build chunks of cars called modules -- a chassis with suspension and brakes or a cockpit with a steering wheel, an air conditioner and air bags. A quarter of the value of Hyundai vehicles is tied up in the modules, more than at any competitor, senior production control manager Chung Daero says.
Cleaning Up
On a December afternoon, Mobis trucks loaded with modules head to Hyundai Motor every few minutes. Robots deliver them to assembly lines and fit them into partially built vehicles without human contact.
Mobis saves Hyundai money by paying workers $11 an hour to start, compared with $15.50 at Hyundai Motor, 11 miles away.
After importing chassis components from Korea and radios from China, 34 percent of the value of Elantras sold in the U.S. originates in the U.S. or Canada; Toyota’s Avalon leads the industry at 85 percent from those two countries.
At the Kia plant in West Point, Georgia, gray buildings sprawl for almost a mile along Interstate 85. Inside, workers use forklifts, robots and stamping presses from Chung’s companies to build sedans and SUVs. Brooms with employees’ names rest near posters that say “Cleanliness is the first step to zero defects.”
Veloster Frenzy
Hyundai demands such attention to detail in its 20 assembly plants worldwide. It also requires workers to adjust on the fly. In the 1970s, special Toyota teams labored for months to save workers incremental steps between tasks on assembly lines. Hyundai, in comparison, leans toward frenetic re-engineering. That approach paid off last year, when Hyundai introduced a non- hydraulic dual-clutch transmission on the $18,060 Veloster hatchback.
Alarmed, two dozen Hyundai engineers began reprogramming onboard computers that control gear shifts, Raphael says. They worked around the clock for three weeks straight before the Veloster went on sale, accomplishing up to 18 months of normal development. Shin Jong Woon, the automaker’s quality vice chairman, got daily reports and test-drove modified cars.
On a grander scale, Hyundai is shaking up notions about management and governance. And, along with Samsung, it’s evolving a form of capitalism that blends the competition of the West with the government backing of Asia, notably China.
Rich and Glorious
For decades after World War II, U.S.-style capitalism -- rooted in private enterprise and lightly regulated markets -- towered over the world economy. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) embarked on an 11-year climb that quintupled its value, economist John Williamson of the Institute for International Economics dubbed the embrace of free-market economics the Washington consensus.
Even as Williamson spoke, a competing system was taking hold in Asia. In 1992, a quote attributed to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping -- “To be rich is glorious” -- helped unleash long- dormant potential. By 2004, China’s economy was growing 9.5 percent annually, almost triple the U.S. pace.
At the Foreign Policy Centre in London, journalist Joshua Cooper Ramo coined the phrase Beijing consensus. He chronicled China’s willingness to experiment with private property and free enterprise to the extent the regime’s need for political stability would allow.
Korea’s Path
Korea navigated its own distinctive path, says Yasheng Huang, a business professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.
Government support continues today. In the past two years, South Korea signed free-trade agreements that eliminate tariffs on automotive exports into the U.S. and European Union. Japanese automakers still pay tariffs of 2.5 percent into the U.S. and 10 percent into the EU, Yamanouchi says.
Unlike its Chinese counterparts, Hyundai was determined to export, forcing the company to hone its skills head-to-head with entrenched competitors like GM in their home market.
“Export meant you were operating in an extremely competitive environment,” Huang says.
“State capitalism, or the support they receive from Korea’s government, is part of the Hyundai story,” Shook says. “Their top-down management system has obvious advantages in terms of speed.”
Coffee Shops
“We’re concerned about Hyundai buying companies that really don’t affect its core motor business, because we don’t know what they’re going to buy next,” Kim says. Affiliates of Kim’s company, including Mirae Asset MAPS Investment Management Co., owned 595,428 Hyundai Motor shares on Sept. 30.
As presidential politics heat up before the December election, Koreans are questioning whether chaebols have too much clout and whether their ties to government are too strong. At Hyundai, a Seoul court in 2007 convicted Chung of selling chaebol securities to his son at below-market prices. First, the elder Chung received a three-year suspended sentence. Then in 2008, Korean President Lee Myung Bak, a former Hyundai executive, pardoned him.
Last year, a company for which Chung’s eldest daughter, Chung Sung Yi, acts as an adviser set up coffee shops in Hyundai headquarters and at a company-owned resort. Some Koreans blasted Hyundai for nepotism and crowding out entrepreneurs. President Lee in January asked all large conglomerates to respond to such grievances. Hyundai will run the shops as nonprofits, spokesman Frank Ahrens says. Chung was unavailable to comment for this story, Ahrens says.
“Hyundai operates under a complex group ownership structure, and Chung wields disproportionately strong control,” Sangyun Han, an S&P analyst in Hong Kong, wrote.
The interlocking companies include Hyundai Motor, which owns 34 percent of Kia. Kia, in turn, owns 16.9 percent of Mobis, the parts company, which owns 20.8 percent of Hyundai Motor. Because the companies essentially control each other, no outside shareholder is strong enough to name board members. That means Chung controls Hyundai Motor’s board even though he holds just 5.2 percent of the stock, Han says.
Han says crossownership is one reason S&P hasn’t moved faster to boost the automaker’s debt rating from BBB, or two steps above junk. He pointed to the Hyundai Engineering purchase to illustrate what he calls undisciplined financial policies.
‘May Not Help Shareholders’
After Chung won the company by outbidding his brother’s widow in a duel played out in Korean headlines, he promised to invest $8.9 billion to quintuple sales. Han, though, says Chung may have been driven by a family rivalry rather than a clear rationale for an automaker owning a company that, unlike Hyundai Steel, plays only a small role in making cars.
“There’s not a lot of transparency, which makes it hard to track motivations of management,” says Rolf Kelly, an analyst at Thornburg Investment Management Inc. in Sante Fe, New Mexico, whose company owned 2.5 million Hyundai Motor shares on Nov. 30.
The purchase may be a good investment, Kelly says. “But there’s obviously some interest in propping up family companies,” he says. “This may not help shareholders.”
Chief Operating Officer Kim Seung Tack says family management makes it easier to reach decisions and invest for long-term goals, like fuel-cell research, instead of short-term profits.
“To lead this big, big group, the son cannot be treated better or mildly,” he says.
“There’s instability in management in the sense it’s highly dependent on one strong figure,” Han says. Eui Sun declined to comment for this story.
Yang, who joined Hyundai from Ford in 2004, says hard work drives Korean society.
“We have to make 6.5 million vehicles with the quality of a BMW or Mercedes,” he says. “It’s giving us more pressure.”
That pressure boiled over on Jan. 8. An engine plant employee named Shin Seung Hoon in Ulsan set himself on fire and died. The Hyundai Motor Workers Union says Shin became distraught after making the one complaint Hyundai least wanted to air publicly -- that his bosses were pushing him to stop protesting poor quality.
COO Kim blames labor unrest on social ills rocking Korea, including a growing gap between rich and poor. He says union leaders aren’t making better progress because they’re busy promoting political candidates.
“Sometimes they do not represent employee concerns like fringe benefits or working conditions,” he says.
What would remain for Eui Sun is to harness the Korean- style capitalism that his grandfather and father helped invent, even with Toyota and GM poised to roar back.
Chairman Chung Mong Koo is paving the way for his son, Chung Eui Sun, to take over. By John Lippert, Alan Ohnsman and Rose Kim
Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong Koo crosses the stage for his New Year’s address, his heels clicking as 600 employees wait in silence.
Wearing a blue pinstriped suit, blue sweater and red tie, the 73-year-old son of Hyundai’s founder praises workers for building the world’s fifth-largest automaker. Then he considers the year ahead. Europe’s debt crisis will trim global growth, Chung says, yet he sees a bright side: Hyundai will have time to improve quality to take on the likes of BMW and Mercedes -- making a full-speed run at becoming what he calls an ilryu giup, a global top player, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its April issue.
“We have the unyielding will to make challenges into opportunities,” he says. The throng assembled at Hyundai’s Seoul headquarters applauds.
With unbridled ambition, clout unmatched in most executive suites and workers who labor more hours than almost any on earth, Chung has fashioned Hyundai Motor Group into South Korea’s second-biggest chaebol and elevated the motor company to its centerpiece.
Hyundai and its Kia Motors Corp. (000270) affiliate are the most profitable of the world’s top six automakers, with a combined operating margin of 9.21 percent. Chung has dashed preconceptions -- and jokes -- about Hyundai’s quality by winning buyers from Mumbai to Los Angeles. Those customers kept factories that make Hyundai models humming at 104 percent of planned capacity last year.
Excel to Equus
Once known as the builder of cheap, utilitarian urban cars like the $4,995 Excel subcompact, Hyundai has emerged as an industry contender. It makes vehicles in nine countries with a 2012 lineup that includes the $12,545 Accent and the $59,000 Equus premium sedan. Its Elantra compact won acclaim in January when Detroit automotive journalists named it North American Car of the Year.
At the Namyang research center 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Seoul, Hyundai is looking toward a future of luxury models and green technologies. Some 250 engineers dedicated to fuel cells hold hundreds of patents on the battery-like devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity that will power cars and leave behind only heat and water.
‘Working Night and Day’
As Hyundai’s momentum grows, it’s challenging conventional wisdom about management, governance and investor relations -- and evolving a model of capitalism that straddles East and West.
As Hyundai’s momentum grows, it’s challenging conventional wisdom about management, governance and investor relations -- and evolving a model of capitalism that straddles East and West.
“Chung is working night and day to prove the Koreans are as good as anybody,” says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. “This is drive and determination of the first order. It’s helping shift the weight of history back to Asia.”
Dead last in J.D. Power & Associates quality surveys in 1994, Hyundai Motor spent years as fodder for late-night comedians. Chung, whose father built postwar Korea’s bridges and expressways, took over in 1998. He bought Kia from creditors during a bankruptcy auction that year and insisted his cars would match the quality of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) He backed that claim with a 10-year engine warranty, still among the industry’s longest.
In 2004, he scrapped the boxy look of a prototype for the Genesis luxury sedan in favor of a crouching, athletic style -- later luring Bavarian-born Peter Schreyer, the designer of Audi AG’s TT Coupe, to overhaul Kia’s lineup.
In 2005, as Korea’s won strengthened against the U.S. dollar, Chung ordered cost cutting to ensure the automaker would earn money even if the won surged. The company opened its first U.S. assembly plant that year.
Jewel of the Chaebol
By 2011, Hyundai Motor had become the jewel among the 63 companies in the chaebol, the family-controlled conglomerate that reported 129.6 trillion won ($115.9 billion) in revenue in the year ended that April.
By 2011, Hyundai Motor had become the jewel among the 63 companies in the chaebol, the family-controlled conglomerate that reported 129.6 trillion won ($115.9 billion) in revenue in the year ended that April.
The carmaker’s profit increased 35 percent to 8.1 trillion won in the 2011 calendar year; revenue climbed 16 percent to 77.8 trillion won. Operating profit margin was triple Toyota’s 3.08 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Investors are taking note. Hyundai Motor shares more than tripled since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s September 2008 bankruptcy, trading at 216,000 won on Feb. 29.
During that time, U.S. carmakers cut 100,000 jobs, or one in seven. General Motors Co. (GM) and Chrysler Group LLC struggled through bankruptcy as Toyota wrestled with an 8-million-vehicle recall for unintended acceleration, earthquakes and floods.
Riding the Surge
Vehicle sales at Hyundai and 34 percent-owned Kia climbed 56 percent from the end of 2008 through the end of last year, faster than those of any major automaker.
Vehicle sales at Hyundai and 34 percent-owned Kia climbed 56 percent from the end of 2008 through the end of last year, faster than those of any major automaker.
“I’m quite comfortable Hyundai will continue to outperform its peers in a highly competitive market,” says Christopher Yip, an analyst in Hong Kong for Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Group Inc. Yip’s firm began investing in Hyundai Motor in 2004 and held 650,612 shares on Sept. 30.
Chung is riding the surge. The value of his public stockholdings in five companies in the Hyundai chaebol was $6.01 billion on Feb. 29. The shares of his only son and heir apparent, Chung Eui Sun, 41, totaled $2.4 billion, Bloomberg data show.
In its growth drive, Hyundai Group has stirred up some investor concerns. Standard & Poor’s complained in August that Chung’s crossholdings in chaebol companies let him handpick directors. Shareholders question whether last year’s $4.4 billion purchase of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (000720), which builds subways in the Philippines and power plants in Iraq, was a stroke of business acumen or a ploy to gain the upper hand in a family feud. And no one can assess how Eui Sun will perform when he becomes chairman because his father keeps him on a tight leash.
‘Total Control’
Even with these caution flags, Maryann Keller, who covered the auto industry for Wall Street firms for four decades, says one shouldn’t count Hyundai out.
Even with these caution flags, Maryann Keller, who covered the auto industry for Wall Street firms for four decades, says one shouldn’t count Hyundai out.
“Nobody should underestimate Chung,” says Keller, who’s now an independent consultant in Stamford, Connecticut. “He has total control, and he’s determined to use great design and leading-edge technology so he won’t get left behind.”
Ultimately, Chung may do in cars what Korea’s No. 1 chaebol, Samsung Group, has accomplished in televisions: push Japanese rivals into decline, says Kei Nihonyanagi, a Barclays Capital analyst in Tokyo. From 2004 to 2010, Sharp Corp. and Sony Corp. (6758) cut their LCD TV prices by almost two-thirds to match Samsung, Nihonyanagi says.
“The key management issue for Japanese automakers is to again surpass Hyundai in cost and quality,” he says.
‘Japanese Were Complacent’
Mazda Motor Corp. Chief Executive Officer Takashi Yamanouchi knows the Hyundai juggernaut. He says the Japanese underestimated Chung and then further lost out when the yen strengthened 27 percent against the dollar from Lehman’s demise to March 1. That meant they couldn’t block Hyundai with low prices.
Mazda Motor Corp. Chief Executive Officer Takashi Yamanouchi knows the Hyundai juggernaut. He says the Japanese underestimated Chung and then further lost out when the yen strengthened 27 percent against the dollar from Lehman’s demise to March 1. That meant they couldn’t block Hyundai with low prices.
“As Hyundai came out with high-quality products, the Japanese were complacent,” Yamanouchi says.
Volkswagen AG (VOW) CEO Martin Winterkorn praises Hyundai for doing what his company can’t. In a video that’s gone viral, Winterkorn was filmed in September seated in Hyundai’s i30 hatchback at the Frankfurt Motor Show and lauding the adjustable steering column.
“Nothing rattles,” he says. “Why can they do it? BMW can’t. We can’t.”
‘Stop the Koreans’
The ever-ambitious Chung is making a run at Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the world’s top luxury-car seller. At the Chicago Auto Show in February, the company showed off a concept car that hints at its strategy for building a direct competitor to the BMW 3-Series, the top-selling premium compact. The Kia GT features a low-slung front end and a 3.3-liter V-6 engine generating 390 horsepower -- just 40 hp less than the 6.2-liter V-8 in Chevrolet’s base-model Corvette.
Hyundai’s Genesis sedan comes with a 3.8-liter, 333-hp V-6, an eight-speed automatic transmission and a $34,200 price tag. Similar models from BMW and Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes cost at least $5,000 more.
“Genesis has taken away enough buyers from other brands to establish Hyundai as a real player in the luxury market,” says Alexander Edwards, president for automotive research at San Diego-based Strategic Vision Inc. “In five years, if history is any guide, BMW and Mercedes could be asking, ‘How are we going to stop the Koreans?’”
Fuel Cells
Hyundai is already challenging Daimler -- the inventor of the first mass-produced internal combustion engine 127 years ago -- in an area where the German company claims leadership: fuel cells. By the end of 2012, Yang Woong Chul, vice chairman for research, expects Hyundai to produce 2,000 fuel-cell vehicles a year at about $100,000 apiece, or twice the price Toyota plans to charge when its cars come out in 2015. Hyundai could match Toyota’s price by 2015, when production could grow to 20,000, he says.
As recently as 2005, Honda Motor Co. (7267) said it was spending $1 million for hand-built fuel-cell prototypes. Yang predicts costs will decline to less than $50,000 as production increases. If he’s right, and if governments support fuel cells with hydrogen-pumping stations, they could become the first full- blown replacement for internal combustion engines.
Christian Mohrdieck, Daimler’s director for fuel-cell development, says his company confirmed its fuel-cell supremacy with 18,600-mile, four-continent test drives last year.
“If we didn’t do anything on fuel cells or hybrids, then you may imagine our company just makes reliable cars,” Yang says. “We don’t want to remain that way. We like to be a technically innovative company.”
Helicopter to Dangjin
Chung, a vigorous septuagenarian who has been test-driving fuel-cell prototypes, sets a pace that keeps Hyundai hopping. He arrives at the 21-story twin-towers headquarters at 6:30 most mornings, prompting executives to rush to their desks by 6:20. Salarymen, the middle managers in gray or black sweaters, leave after sundown.
Engineers feel pressure 6,000 miles away in Costa Mesa, California. Erwin Raphael, director of engineering and quality at Hyundai Motor America, says his department responds almost daily to queries from Chung and other executives about existing or potential problems. In a similar Chrysler job, Raphael heard from top management once or twice a quarter, he says.
Chung personally heads monthly quality reviews with senior executives -- and sets high expectations.
“Every engineer, any quality problem they have, they have to bring it up in front of the chairman,” Yang says. “They have to come with solutions.”
‘Like a Tank’
When Hyundai Steel Co. (004020), the sister company that supplies metal for a third of Hyundai vehicles, was building three blast furnaces, Chung supervised. He took a helicopter 40 miles to Dangjin three or four times a week to oversee the $8 billion effort, says Cho Won Suk, senior executive vice president.
On a smoggy January afternoon in Dangjin, ore carriers from around the world line a dock on the Asan Bay. Conveyor-borne buckets drag out iron, coal and limestone. Blast furnaces tower like 20-story Thermos bottles. Trucks with steel for Chung’s cars rumble through the gate.
Chung is reprising the strategy of Henry Ford, another innovator who owned the steps of production. Without furnaces, Hyundai would be at the mercy of Posco (005490), Korea’s largest steelmaker, and of a fluctuating won that could make importing expensive, says Kim Gyung Jung, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul.
Chung is reprising the strategy of Henry Ford, another innovator who owned the steps of production. Without furnaces, Hyundai would be at the mercy of Posco (005490), Korea’s largest steelmaker, and of a fluctuating won that could make importing expensive, says Kim Gyung Jung, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul.
“He’s like a tank,” Kim says. “His insight is very strong.”
In the Pines
Key ingredients of Hyundai’s strategy are on display among the pine forests of the American South.
Key ingredients of Hyundai’s strategy are on display among the pine forests of the American South.
Here, Hyundai imports components from Asia and snaps them together with low-wage firms, including chaebol member Hyundai Mobis (012330), the world’s No. 8 automotive supplier. With 2,650 workers making 1,370 cars each day, the Montgomery, Alabama, Hyundai Motor plant has the highest productivity of any North American vehicle assembly factory, an entrance-hall banner citing Harbour & Associates announces. Ron Harbour, president of the Harbour & Associates unit of Oliver Wyman, declined to comment.
At nearby Hyundai Mobis, some 1,000 workers build chunks of cars called modules -- a chassis with suspension and brakes or a cockpit with a steering wheel, an air conditioner and air bags. A quarter of the value of Hyundai vehicles is tied up in the modules, more than at any competitor, senior production control manager Chung Daero says.
Cleaning Up
On a December afternoon, Mobis trucks loaded with modules head to Hyundai Motor every few minutes. Robots deliver them to assembly lines and fit them into partially built vehicles without human contact.
Mobis saves Hyundai money by paying workers $11 an hour to start, compared with $15.50 at Hyundai Motor, 11 miles away.
After importing chassis components from Korea and radios from China, 34 percent of the value of Elantras sold in the U.S. originates in the U.S. or Canada; Toyota’s Avalon leads the industry at 85 percent from those two countries.
At the Kia plant in West Point, Georgia, gray buildings sprawl for almost a mile along Interstate 85. Inside, workers use forklifts, robots and stamping presses from Chung’s companies to build sedans and SUVs. Brooms with employees’ names rest near posters that say “Cleanliness is the first step to zero defects.”
Veloster Frenzy
Hyundai demands such attention to detail in its 20 assembly plants worldwide. It also requires workers to adjust on the fly. In the 1970s, special Toyota teams labored for months to save workers incremental steps between tasks on assembly lines. Hyundai, in comparison, leans toward frenetic re-engineering. That approach paid off last year, when Hyundai introduced a non- hydraulic dual-clutch transmission on the $18,060 Veloster hatchback.
Ford Motor Co. (F) had already selected the same transmission and then tumbled in Consumer Reports’ reliability survey because of jerky shifting at low speed.
Alarmed, two dozen Hyundai engineers began reprogramming onboard computers that control gear shifts, Raphael says. They worked around the clock for three weeks straight before the Veloster went on sale, accomplishing up to 18 months of normal development. Shin Jong Woon, the automaker’s quality vice chairman, got daily reports and test-drove modified cars.
By January, Velosters were selling so fast that Hyundai had a 13-day supply compared with the industry average of 34 for all 2012 models, according to automotive website Cars.com.
On a grander scale, Hyundai is shaking up notions about management and governance. And, along with Samsung, it’s evolving a form of capitalism that blends the competition of the West with the government backing of Asia, notably China.
Rich and Glorious
For decades after World War II, U.S.-style capitalism -- rooted in private enterprise and lightly regulated markets -- towered over the world economy. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) embarked on an 11-year climb that quintupled its value, economist John Williamson of the Institute for International Economics dubbed the embrace of free-market economics the Washington consensus.
Even as Williamson spoke, a competing system was taking hold in Asia. In 1992, a quote attributed to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping -- “To be rich is glorious” -- helped unleash long- dormant potential. By 2004, China’s economy was growing 9.5 percent annually, almost triple the U.S. pace.
At the Foreign Policy Centre in London, journalist Joshua Cooper Ramo coined the phrase Beijing consensus. He chronicled China’s willingness to experiment with private property and free enterprise to the extent the regime’s need for political stability would allow.
Korea’s Path
Korea navigated its own distinctive path, says Yasheng Huang, a business professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.
Beginning in the 1950s, a succession of presidents showered cheap financing and favorable tax policies on Hyundai and the other chaebols they chose as cornerstones of national growth. Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju Yung used a government-sponsored loan to buy 82 acres (33 hectares) in the southeastern city of Ulsan for what is now the world’s largest automotive assembly plant.
Government support continues today. In the past two years, South Korea signed free-trade agreements that eliminate tariffs on automotive exports into the U.S. and European Union. Japanese automakers still pay tariffs of 2.5 percent into the U.S. and 10 percent into the EU, Yamanouchi says.
Unlike its Chinese counterparts, Hyundai was determined to export, forcing the company to hone its skills head-to-head with entrenched competitors like GM in their home market.
“Export meant you were operating in an extremely competitive environment,” Huang says.
‘Top-Down Management’
Hyundai also copied the Japanese, says John Shook, chairman of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Lean Enterprise Institute, which consults on efficiency. The Chinese, in comparison, were slow to export or establish global brands; the U.S. and Japanese were buffeted during the recent recession, he says.
Hyundai also copied the Japanese, says John Shook, chairman of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Lean Enterprise Institute, which consults on efficiency. The Chinese, in comparison, were slow to export or establish global brands; the U.S. and Japanese were buffeted during the recent recession, he says.
“State capitalism, or the support they receive from Korea’s government, is part of the Hyundai story,” Shook says. “Their top-down management system has obvious advantages in terms of speed.”
Some investors say Korea’s capitalism needs more Western- style governance and transparency.
Kim Byung Kwan, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co. in Seoul, worries about Chung’s purchase last year of Hyundai Engineering.
Kim Byung Kwan, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co. in Seoul, worries about Chung’s purchase last year of Hyundai Engineering.
Coffee Shops
“We’re concerned about Hyundai buying companies that really don’t affect its core motor business, because we don’t know what they’re going to buy next,” Kim says. Affiliates of Kim’s company, including Mirae Asset MAPS Investment Management Co., owned 595,428 Hyundai Motor shares on Sept. 30.
As presidential politics heat up before the December election, Koreans are questioning whether chaebols have too much clout and whether their ties to government are too strong. At Hyundai, a Seoul court in 2007 convicted Chung of selling chaebol securities to his son at below-market prices. First, the elder Chung received a three-year suspended sentence. Then in 2008, Korean President Lee Myung Bak, a former Hyundai executive, pardoned him.
Last year, a company for which Chung’s eldest daughter, Chung Sung Yi, acts as an adviser set up coffee shops in Hyundai headquarters and at a company-owned resort. Some Koreans blasted Hyundai for nepotism and crowding out entrepreneurs. President Lee in January asked all large conglomerates to respond to such grievances. Hyundai will run the shops as nonprofits, spokesman Frank Ahrens says. Chung was unavailable to comment for this story, Ahrens says.
‘Complex Group Ownership’
Standard & Poor’s complained about governance in August.
Standard & Poor’s complained about governance in August.
“Hyundai operates under a complex group ownership structure, and Chung wields disproportionately strong control,” Sangyun Han, an S&P analyst in Hong Kong, wrote.
The interlocking companies include Hyundai Motor, which owns 34 percent of Kia. Kia, in turn, owns 16.9 percent of Mobis, the parts company, which owns 20.8 percent of Hyundai Motor. Because the companies essentially control each other, no outside shareholder is strong enough to name board members. That means Chung controls Hyundai Motor’s board even though he holds just 5.2 percent of the stock, Han says.
Han says crossownership is one reason S&P hasn’t moved faster to boost the automaker’s debt rating from BBB, or two steps above junk. He pointed to the Hyundai Engineering purchase to illustrate what he calls undisciplined financial policies.
‘May Not Help Shareholders’
After Chung won the company by outbidding his brother’s widow in a duel played out in Korean headlines, he promised to invest $8.9 billion to quintuple sales. Han, though, says Chung may have been driven by a family rivalry rather than a clear rationale for an automaker owning a company that, unlike Hyundai Steel, plays only a small role in making cars.
“There’s not a lot of transparency, which makes it hard to track motivations of management,” says Rolf Kelly, an analyst at Thornburg Investment Management Inc. in Sante Fe, New Mexico, whose company owned 2.5 million Hyundai Motor shares on Nov. 30.
The purchase may be a good investment, Kelly says. “But there’s obviously some interest in propping up family companies,” he says. “This may not help shareholders.”
Chief Operating Officer Kim Seung Tack says family management makes it easier to reach decisions and invest for long-term goals, like fuel-cell research, instead of short-term profits.
Pushing Eui Sun
Han questions what will happen when Chung steps down or dies. Even though Eui Sun was Kia president from 2005 to 2009 and is Hyundai Motor vice chairman, investors can’t assess how he’ll perform because his father’s lieutenants always assist him, Han says. Chung, who had a difficult relationship with his own father, pushes Eui Sun to get him ready, Yang says.
Han questions what will happen when Chung steps down or dies. Even though Eui Sun was Kia president from 2005 to 2009 and is Hyundai Motor vice chairman, investors can’t assess how he’ll perform because his father’s lieutenants always assist him, Han says. Chung, who had a difficult relationship with his own father, pushes Eui Sun to get him ready, Yang says.
“To lead this big, big group, the son cannot be treated better or mildly,” he says.
Eui Sun, who holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco, is starting to take the stage with English-language speeches at auto shows. In private, though, he refers to his father as chairman, a person who knows him says.
“There’s instability in management in the sense it’s highly dependent on one strong figure,” Han says. Eui Sun declined to comment for this story.
Yang, who joined Hyundai from Ford in 2004, says hard work drives Korean society.
“We put the highest priority on the company,” he says. “Second is family. Third is me. In Western countries, it’s the other way around.”
‘More Pressure’
Even after Chung said in January that expansion would slow this year, employees haven’t relaxed, Yang says.
Even after Chung said in January that expansion would slow this year, employees haven’t relaxed, Yang says.
“We have to make 6.5 million vehicles with the quality of a BMW or Mercedes,” he says. “It’s giving us more pressure.”
That pressure boiled over on Jan. 8. An engine plant employee named Shin Seung Hoon in Ulsan set himself on fire and died. The Hyundai Motor Workers Union says Shin became distraught after making the one complaint Hyundai least wanted to air publicly -- that his bosses were pushing him to stop protesting poor quality.
COO Kim blames labor unrest on social ills rocking Korea, including a growing gap between rich and poor. He says union leaders aren’t making better progress because they’re busy promoting political candidates.
“Sometimes they do not represent employee concerns like fringe benefits or working conditions,” he says.
Long Hours
Union spokesman Kim Gi Hyuk says members agitate for change because Korea’s government is dedicated to helping corporations make bigger profits -- an area where Korean capitalism may hurt workers.
Union spokesman Kim Gi Hyuk says members agitate for change because Korea’s government is dedicated to helping corporations make bigger profits -- an area where Korean capitalism may hurt workers.
“This causes employment instability, long working hours and low wages,” he says.
Koreans worked 2,193 hours on average in 2010, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found. That compares with an average of 1,778 in the U.S. and 1,419 in Germany.
Koreans worked 2,193 hours on average in 2010, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found. That compares with an average of 1,778 in the U.S. and 1,419 in Germany.
Chung, in his January address, warned of tougher competition ahead. GM sold 9.03 million vehicles last year, enough to reclaim its No. 1 global sales ranking. Net income soared to $9.19 billion, the most in its 103-year history. Toyota expects a 21 percent sales increase during 2012.
As Chung spoke, he displayed small signs of fallibility. He slurred a few words slightly and didn’t correct himself after announcing a 2012 sales target of 700,000 vehicles when he meant 7 million.
By the time Eui Sun takes over, Chung may have completed a 100-story chaebol headquarters he’s planning along the Han River. Hyundai may have gained recognition as a leader in fuel- cell technology for the 21st century.
What would remain for Eui Sun is to harness the Korean- style capitalism that his grandfather and father helped invent, even with Toyota and GM poised to roar back.
Source;
Hyundai Says No, But Kia Could Say Yes to Trucks
Hmmmm..... interesting....
Don't expect Hyundai to step into the pickup truck segment anytime soon, as company President and CEO John Krafcik is not interested in repeating the same mistakes other automotive manufactuers have made.
"Our brand resonates best with families, but that's where we have the lowest market penetration. There's tremendous upside for us in crossovers. ... More seven-passenger crossover capacity is No. 1 on our priority list for the U.S," he said.
Phelan suggests this will likely mean Hyundai won't jump into the van (minivan or other) or pickup truck segment, and that makes sense. Hyundai has done a pretty good job lately of creating some buzz for its mainstream Genesis, Elantra, Sonata and eye-catching Veloster.
"When we looked at other companies in their growth phase, this (over-expansion) was where the train came off the track," and pressure to boost production led to quality snafus, Krafcik said. Our guess he's talking specfically about Toyota's multibillion-dollar endeavor in San Antonio.
Still, with a seven-passenger, rear-wheel-drive crossover in the works, a good amount of money already dedicated to rear-drive platforms and some new hybrid powertrain technologies, it would not be a stretch for Hyundai's "downmarket" player, Kia, to make a play in the pickup truck segment. The Kia Mojove concept was floated around about 10 years ago, and that was when the company wasn't doing nearly as well or had access to nearly as many resources.
Maybe Hyundai isn't ready to step into the realm of a small- or medium-sized pickup truck, but Kia certainly could, and it could likely have some interesting design and technology options at its disposal. In 2004, Kia played with the idea of a half-ton competitor for the U.S., called the KCV-4 Mojave, but the project was officially killed in 2008 because of unstable gas prices and shrinking interest in a small pickup. At that time, the vehicle was to be based off the new Kia Sorento (concept design by Stanley Ivan pictured).
Whether or not something new could be based off another larger or smaller SUV or crossover remains to be seen. (Remember the Soulster?) Regardless, it almost certainly would require a new assembly plant or some serious modifications to an existing facility. For now, it looks like we'll have to wait and see, but they do have options.
Source;
http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/02/hyundai-says-no-but-kia-could-say-yes.html
Don't expect Hyundai to step into the pickup truck segment anytime soon, as company President and CEO John Krafcik is not interested in repeating the same mistakes other automotive manufactuers have made."Our brand resonates best with families, but that's where we have the lowest market penetration. There's tremendous upside for us in crossovers. ... More seven-passenger crossover capacity is No. 1 on our priority list for the U.S," he said.
Phelan suggests this will likely mean Hyundai won't jump into the van (minivan or other) or pickup truck segment, and that makes sense. Hyundai has done a pretty good job lately of creating some buzz for its mainstream Genesis, Elantra, Sonata and eye-catching Veloster.
"When we looked at other companies in their growth phase, this (over-expansion) was where the train came off the track," and pressure to boost production led to quality snafus, Krafcik said. Our guess he's talking specfically about Toyota's multibillion-dollar endeavor in San Antonio.
Still, with a seven-passenger, rear-wheel-drive crossover in the works, a good amount of money already dedicated to rear-drive platforms and some new hybrid powertrain technologies, it would not be a stretch for Hyundai's "downmarket" player, Kia, to make a play in the pickup truck segment. The Kia Mojove concept was floated around about 10 years ago, and that was when the company wasn't doing nearly as well or had access to nearly as many resources.
Maybe Hyundai isn't ready to step into the realm of a small- or medium-sized pickup truck, but Kia certainly could, and it could likely have some interesting design and technology options at its disposal. In 2004, Kia played with the idea of a half-ton competitor for the U.S., called the KCV-4 Mojave, but the project was officially killed in 2008 because of unstable gas prices and shrinking interest in a small pickup. At that time, the vehicle was to be based off the new Kia Sorento (concept design by Stanley Ivan pictured).
Whether or not something new could be based off another larger or smaller SUV or crossover remains to be seen. (Remember the Soulster?) Regardless, it almost certainly would require a new assembly plant or some serious modifications to an existing facility. For now, it looks like we'll have to wait and see, but they do have options.
Source;
http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/02/hyundai-says-no-but-kia-could-say-yes.html
Carscoop!: Next Gen Hyundai Santa Fe caught undisguised?!?
Pictures allegedly showing an undisguised prototype of the new generation of the Hyundai Santa Fe are making the internet rounds today (keep in mind the front fascia image was created by mirroring the right hand side photo).The styling cues such as the six-point grille and exterior mirrors seem to match the camouflaged test cars we've spied over the past few months, though we're not sure if this is the South Korean market version or not.
Either way, it won't be long before we find out as the new Santa Fe, which will probably be called iX45 in select regions such as Europe and Australia, is scheduled to receive its world premiere at the 2012 New York Auto Show in April.
Along with the new skin, the Korean SUV will also benefit from a revamped and more upper scale interior as well as a new engine lineup that may include a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline unit in North America and Euro6 diesels in Europe and other international markets.
Source;
http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/01/has-new-hyundai-santa-fe-ix45-suv-been.html
Hyundai America Nabs BMW Designer Christopher Chapman
Smart....
If there's one thing that Hyundai and Kia can lay claim to, is that both companies eventually understood the importance of design and made significant efforts to improve the styling of their vehicles in the past few years.
To achieve their goal, the Koreans didn't hesitate to bring in experienced designers from other brands, with the most notable transfer being that of Peter Schreyer from Audi who took over and revolutionized Kia's design language.
The South Korean group continues to inject its brands with foreign designers, with its latest hire being Christopher Chapman of former BMW fame. Chapman was named chief designer of the Hyundai Design Center in Irvine, California, and will be responsible for new vehicle and concept design for Hyundai.
“With over 22 years of experience in the industry working on esteemed automotive brands, Chris provides a level of talent that will help further our design portfolio,” said SukGeun Oh, Head of Design, Senior Executive Vice President Hyundai Design Center. “We are thrilled to have Christopher Chapman as chief designer for Hyundai and look forward to continuing the strong momentum of our vehicle designs.”
Chapman started his career at the Isuzu Technical Center of America in Cerritos, California, in 1989 and was the designer chosen for the exterior of the XU-1 show car, which won Best Concept at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show.
In 1994, he joined the BMW Group at DesignworksUSA in California, where he designed the exteriors of the X5 Sport Activity Vehicle and X Coupe concept car before he moved to Germany to design the CS1 concept shown at the Geneva Auto Salon in 2002, followed by the first generation 1 Series production Coupe and its derivatives.
In 2002, Chapman was appointed Director of Automotive Design and has been responsible for leading several conceptual and production vehicles including the new X5, X3, Z4 and the first BMW 1-series E87.
“Christopher Chapman is an outstanding addition to the design team at HATCI,” said John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. “We are proud to add such a talented individual to lead the team of dedicated designers at HATCI that will continue to develop innovative vehicles for both the United States and global auto markets.”
Source;
http://www.carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/12/hyundai-america-nabs-bmw-designer.html
If there's one thing that Hyundai and Kia can lay claim to, is that both companies eventually understood the importance of design and made significant efforts to improve the styling of their vehicles in the past few years.To achieve their goal, the Koreans didn't hesitate to bring in experienced designers from other brands, with the most notable transfer being that of Peter Schreyer from Audi who took over and revolutionized Kia's design language.
The South Korean group continues to inject its brands with foreign designers, with its latest hire being Christopher Chapman of former BMW fame. Chapman was named chief designer of the Hyundai Design Center in Irvine, California, and will be responsible for new vehicle and concept design for Hyundai.
“With over 22 years of experience in the industry working on esteemed automotive brands, Chris provides a level of talent that will help further our design portfolio,” said SukGeun Oh, Head of Design, Senior Executive Vice President Hyundai Design Center. “We are thrilled to have Christopher Chapman as chief designer for Hyundai and look forward to continuing the strong momentum of our vehicle designs.”
Chapman started his career at the Isuzu Technical Center of America in Cerritos, California, in 1989 and was the designer chosen for the exterior of the XU-1 show car, which won Best Concept at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show.
In 1994, he joined the BMW Group at DesignworksUSA in California, where he designed the exteriors of the X5 Sport Activity Vehicle and X Coupe concept car before he moved to Germany to design the CS1 concept shown at the Geneva Auto Salon in 2002, followed by the first generation 1 Series production Coupe and its derivatives.
In 2002, Chapman was appointed Director of Automotive Design and has been responsible for leading several conceptual and production vehicles including the new X5, X3, Z4 and the first BMW 1-series E87.
“Christopher Chapman is an outstanding addition to the design team at HATCI,” said John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. “We are proud to add such a talented individual to lead the team of dedicated designers at HATCI that will continue to develop innovative vehicles for both the United States and global auto markets.”
Source;
http://www.carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/12/hyundai-america-nabs-bmw-designer.html
Next Gen Hyundai Genesis Coupe Production Version
Here we have Hyundai with their redesigned Genesis Coupe, I am starting to warm up to the front end.... Still prefer the 1st gen.
Source (via http://www.autoblog.com/);
http://blog.hyundai.com/frontoffice/html/blogview.aspx?category=37&pidx=786&page=1
Source (via http://www.autoblog.com/);http://blog.hyundai.com/frontoffice/html/blogview.aspx?category=37&pidx=786&page=1
Next Generation Hyundai Genesis Coupe Spied
Well, I guess the next generation Genesis Coupe will get the corporate look, in my humble opinion, this look is a step backwards, I really liked the look of the current Genesis coupe below....
For more shots of the car, follow the link to Mr. Thompsons excellent site;
http://www.woodyscarsite.com/2011/08/genesis-reveals-itself-in-dark.html
For more shots of the car, follow the link to Mr. Thompsons excellent site;
http://www.woodyscarsite.com/2011/08/genesis-reveals-itself-in-dark.html
Why Do Subcompacts and Compacts Get Such Similar Mileage?
No longer is 40 mpg only the province of the hybrid.With four new members from the New York International Auto Show — the Honda Civic, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio and Mazda3 — the crop of 40-plus mpg, non-hybrid gasoline cars available will creep into the double digits by the end of the year. You don’t necessarily have to downsize to get the best mileage: The 2012 Ford Focus SFE will be rated 28/40 mpg city/highway, while the pint-sized Ford Fiesta SFE gets 29/40 mpg. The entry-level Accent gets 30/40 mpg; the Elantra, its larger sibling, is rated 29/40 mpg. The stick-shift Chevy Cruze Eco gets 28/42 mpg, and GM expects the forthcoming Sonic to secure a 40 mpg highway rating.
In most cases, the compact cars are significantly larger, heavier and more powerful than their subcompact siblings. Why then is their gas mileage so similar? At the auto show, I posed the question to automakers and analysts. The simple answer: aerodynamics.
“Keep in mind that technology will help both [highway and city mileage], but not at the same rates,” said Mike O’Brien, Hyundai’s vice president of product planning. “The city number is going to be the bigger difference when you go a class up in car size.”
Conversely, the fight for better highway mileage goes against what O’Brien calls “road load,” a combination of the vehicle’s frontal size, tire friction and drag.
In some cases, it’s actually harder to eke out better highway mileage in a subcompact car, said IHS Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman.
“When you have a B-segment [subcompact] car, it’s very hard to make it aerodynamic, given how short it is and how many of them end abruptly,” Bragman said.
That’s not to say carmakers aren’t trying. Cars like the Accent and Fiesta use technologies commonly reserved for luxury models — a direct-injection engine in the Accent’s case and a dual-clutch six-speed automatic in the Fiesta’s.
At Ford’s auto-show stand, marketing manager Robert Parker noted the incremental nature of this technology.
“Our engineers like to say fuel economy is about hundreds of little things,” Parker said. “All of those hundreds of little things add up to a tenth [of a mpg] here and a tenth there.”
Put another way, major increases in mileage — 30-mpg pickup trucks or 50-mpg commuter cars — will take more than slipstream aerodynamics or six-speed automatics.
“A lot of these countermeasures are low-hanging fruit,” Bragman said. “Long-term, you’re looking at a different powertrain, a different type of propulsion method, to get to the next level of fuel economy.”
The real question isn’t technology, Hyundai’s O’Brien said. “There’s always more technology,” he said. The real question is who will pay for it.
“You can have the cleanest car in the world, but unless someone buys it, you can’t be clean,” he said. “It’s really a tipping-point discussion.”
Source;
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/04/why-do-subcompacts-and-compacts-get-such-similar-mileage.html
2011 Consumer Reports Reliability Chart
This is just to piggyback an earlier post....
According to Consumer Reports Annual Automakers Report Card for 2011, Honda and Subaru still make the best vehicles overall, however, Ford posted the largest gain.
Consumer Reports said that Ford outpaced its Detroit rivals in reliability in recent years and that this year its average test score for all tested models increased from 60 to 70. The publication currently recommends 71 percent of the Ford vehicles it has tested.
Honda, Subaru and Toyota are at the top three for the third consecutive year with vehicles doing very well in Consumer Reports tests, remaining relatively trouble-free. Honda, including its luxury Acura brand, has had the best reliability record of any car maker and has made mostly good to outstanding vehicles. In fact, no Honda vehicle scored less than average in reliability.
Subaru, which has the highest average road-test score of 81, makes only half-a-dozen models but all do well in Consumer Reports road tests. Toyota, Lexus and Scion remain solid choices as well with reliability remaining better than average with an average test score of 74 for all tested models. Consumer Reports currently recommends 74 percent of the Toyota vehicles it has tested.
GM also improved its average road-test and reliability scores. Chrysler had the lowest average test score by far of 50.
Volvo is the only European make with an above-average reliability score. Volkswagen’s reliability has improved of late, but Audi’s reliability brings the combined automaker’s score down.
Luxury automakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW are near the bottom of Consumer Reports Automakers Report Card Ranking with both getting below-average reliability.
- By: Omar Rana
Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/02/28/consumer-reports-report-card-2011-honda-subaru-make-best-vehicles-ford-improves/#more-75591
According to Consumer Reports Annual Automakers Report Card for 2011, Honda and Subaru still make the best vehicles overall, however, Ford posted the largest gain.Consumer Reports said that Ford outpaced its Detroit rivals in reliability in recent years and that this year its average test score for all tested models increased from 60 to 70. The publication currently recommends 71 percent of the Ford vehicles it has tested.
Honda, Subaru and Toyota are at the top three for the third consecutive year with vehicles doing very well in Consumer Reports tests, remaining relatively trouble-free. Honda, including its luxury Acura brand, has had the best reliability record of any car maker and has made mostly good to outstanding vehicles. In fact, no Honda vehicle scored less than average in reliability.
Subaru, which has the highest average road-test score of 81, makes only half-a-dozen models but all do well in Consumer Reports road tests. Toyota, Lexus and Scion remain solid choices as well with reliability remaining better than average with an average test score of 74 for all tested models. Consumer Reports currently recommends 74 percent of the Toyota vehicles it has tested.
GM also improved its average road-test and reliability scores. Chrysler had the lowest average test score by far of 50.
Volvo is the only European make with an above-average reliability score. Volkswagen’s reliability has improved of late, but Audi’s reliability brings the combined automaker’s score down.
Luxury automakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW are near the bottom of Consumer Reports Automakers Report Card Ranking with both getting below-average reliability.
- By: Omar Rana
Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/02/28/consumer-reports-report-card-2011-honda-subaru-make-best-vehicles-ford-improves/#more-75591
Hyundai Veloster Will Have Four Doors, Not Three
Potential Honda CR-Z rival switches things up a bit, not too sure what to think.... is it now just a hatchback?!? Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing what Hyundai has planned.... Looking at the pic, it looks like they did just add a 2nd door on the passenger side....
Hyundai will be debuting its all-new Veloster at the Detroit Auto Show next Monday. Long expected to be a three-door hatch in the vein of the Honda CR-Z, the Veloster has a trick up its sleeve: an extra door. Hyundai released a new teaser photo of the hatch today, and as you can clearly see there are two passenger-side doors instead of one. Look across the rear seats and you’ll notice there’s no rear door on the other side. So the Veloster will feature an unconventional three door + hatch configuration.
Hyundai hasn’t given us much information on the Veloster, but it dropped a few select details when it released the first teaser photo. We’ll get the rest beginning January 10 at 2:55 p.m. Eastern. [via CNET]
Source;
http://motorcrave.com/hyundai-veloster-will-have-four-doors-not-three/9982/
Hyundai will be debuting its all-new Veloster at the Detroit Auto Show next Monday. Long expected to be a three-door hatch in the vein of the Honda CR-Z, the Veloster has a trick up its sleeve: an extra door. Hyundai released a new teaser photo of the hatch today, and as you can clearly see there are two passenger-side doors instead of one. Look across the rear seats and you’ll notice there’s no rear door on the other side. So the Veloster will feature an unconventional three door + hatch configuration.Hyundai hasn’t given us much information on the Veloster, but it dropped a few select details when it released the first teaser photo. We’ll get the rest beginning January 10 at 2:55 p.m. Eastern. [via CNET]
Source;
http://motorcrave.com/hyundai-veloster-will-have-four-doors-not-three/9982/
KBB reveals 20 most researched cars of 2010
Dec 22, 2010 Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com Names 2010 Most-Researched New Vehicles, Brands With Greatest Share of Market Interest This YearSales Success Story Hyundai Sonata Makes Giant Leap to No. 5 on 2010's Top 20 Most-Researched New Cars ListIRVINE, Calif., Dec. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Kelley Blue Book, the leading provider of new car and used car information, today announces the most-researched new vehicles of 2010 on the company's top-rated website, www.kbb.com.In addition, Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com reveals the top five brands with the greatest share of market interest for 2010.This year marks the fifth consecutive year that Kelley Blue Book saw increased visitation to its website, with nearly 24 million more visits to kbb.com in 2010 versus 2009.
Because kbb.com is one of the most-trafficked automotive research sites, visitation to specific vehicles has become a leading indicator of sales patterns for manufacturers.
Kbb.com's Top 20 Most-Researched New Vehicles of 2010
1. Honda Accord
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Camry
4. Honda CRV
5. Hyundai Sonata
6. Nissan Altima
7. Honda Pilot
8. Ford Mustang
9. Toyota Highlander
10. Toyota Rav4
11. Toyota Sienna
12. Honda Odyssey
13. Chevrolet Equinox
14. Toyota Corolla
15. Ford Fusion
16. Ford Escape
17. Toyota Prius
18. BMW 3 Series
19. Chevrolet Camaro
20. Volkswagen Jetta
The Honda Accord, Honda Civic and Toyota Camry (in varying orders each year) have been the top three most-researched new vehicles on kbb.com each year since 2004. However, a few vehicles made jumps into the top 20 most-researched new vehicles for 2010 that were not on the list in 2009, and many models have changed their standings among the top 20 when compared to last year.
The most noteworthy success story this year is the Hyundai Sonata, which made a giant leap up 24 positions, from number 29 last year to number five this year. Hyundai's popular all-new Sonata helped to re-shuffle the deck among the top 20 most-researched new cars of 2010, knocking a few vehicles further down on the list compared to where they were last year.
A number of popular new or redesigned models also increased their standing for 2010 versus 2009, including the Ford Mustang, up eight positions to number eight, the Toyota Sienna, up seven positions to number 11, and the Chevrolet Equinox, up seven positions to number 13. In addition, the BMW 3 Series was new to the list for 2010, making its debut at number 18.
Likewise, many vehicles that are staples on the annual kbb.com top 20 most-researched new vehicles list experienced a decline in standing for 2010 when compared to 2009. The Toyota Corolla fell nine positions to number 14 this year, and the Toyota Prius dropped nine positions to number 17. In addition, the Chevrolet Camaro was down seven positions to number 19 for 2010."
The site traffic on Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com clearly demonstrates which models are resonating with today's new-car shoppers, especially when we examine the most-researched new vehicles of 2010," said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com. "Hyundai's homerun Sonata was not only the darling of the industry this year, but also made a strong impression in the minds of new-car shoppers by leaping ahead to the fifth most-researched new car of 2010. In addition, two popular Toyota models, the Corolla and Prius, experienced drops on the list this year, likely due to a combination of lower fuel prices and reduced overall interest in compact and hybrid vehicles, and also possibly due to Toyota's public perception crisis during the recall saga of 2010."
Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com 2010 Top Five Brands with Greatest Share of Market Interest Among New-Car Shoppers
Toyota with 13.4 percent
Honda with 11.4 percent
Ford with 10.2 percent
Chevrolet with 8.3 percent
Nissan with 6.2 percent
Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet and Nissan (respectively) are the top five brands with the highest share of market interest -- defined as the percent of new-car shopper activity for a particular brand -- on Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com for 2010. While these five brands remain in the same positions as last year, Toyota has experienced a decline in share of market interest for 2010 while Ford's share of market interest continues to grow. Toyota managed to hold down its top spot for 2010, even though its share of market interest declined 2.4 percentage points from last year. While Ford remains in the number three spot, its share of market interest increased 1.5 percentage points for 2010 when compared to 2009. The remaining three (Honda, Chevrolet and Nissan) brands' share of market interest numbers remained relatively flat year-over-year.
Source (via autoblog);
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/26/kbb-reveals-20-most-researched-cars-of-2010/#continued
Honda, Hyundai issue anti-used-parts memos, junkyards object
The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) issued a formal complaint letter with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against two car manufacturers, Hyundai Motor America and American Honda. Both companies released statements that warn against the use of recycled auto parts, and indicate that their use will void vehicle warranties issued by the companies. ARA said those statements and their threatened warranty refusals could be violations of the Magnuson-Moss Act.Use of these recycled parts, a $22-billion industry, has been widely accepted for decades and there is a long track record of their successful use, ARA said. Recycled parts are original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts. They are fully functional and are in many cases identical to the original parts Hyundai Motor America and American Honda are requiring, according to ARA. Recycled parts were new OEM parts at some point, yet both Hyundai Motor America and American Honda are calling for the use of their own new parts in repairs.
“Neither manufacturer has provided any evidence that parts unaffected by an accident become inadequate once reused, which begs the question why their use is not supported by either company,” ARA’s Chief Executive Officer Michael E. Wilson states in his appeal to the FTC.
“Following the logic held by these companies, as soon as a new Hyundai, Honda or Acura drives off the lot, its parts are unsuitable for use as replacement parts in another vehicle, implying that the parts are unfit for use as soon as the car drives off the lot.”
In addition, recycled parts have several additional benefits compared to new parts:
Recycled parts allow consumers to save on costs while using parts identical to new OEM parts.
Recycled parts are better for the environment, since no additional resources or energy were used to create an unnecessary new replacement part.
Auto recyclers provide warranties on any recycled part used in a repair, indicating that recycled parts are not used in an attempt to cut corners with customers. "We believe the statements made by Hyundai Motor America and America Honda are part of a concerted effort among automobile manufacturers to limit competition in the automotive parts market to try to limit their competition,” said Wilson.
Source (via Autoblog);
ABRN
Next Gen Hyundai Elantra Spied
Say hello to the mini Sonata, which isn't a bad thing....
Source;
http://www.autospies.com/news/SPIED-Next-Gen-Hyundai-Elantra-Caught-On-Camera-58096/
Source;http://www.autospies.com/news/SPIED-Next-Gen-Hyundai-Elantra-Caught-On-Camera-58096/
Kia's top executive resigns after recalls
A little drastic I think, but I guess they are using this as a platform to show how serious they take these issues.... after all, they have been on quite a run lately....
Kelly Olsen / Associated Press
Seoul, South Korea -- The top executive at Kia Motors has resigned after the company recalled more than 100,000 vehicles worldwide over defective wiring, the automaker said Tuesday.
Chung Sung-eun, vice chairman and CEO of South Korea's No. 2 automaker, stepped down on Friday, according to company spokesman Michael Choo.
"His resignation comes in the light of the recent global recall issued by Kia Motors," Choo said, without elaborating. He said no successor has been named. Chung was one of two Kia CEOs.
Kia Motors Corp. is an affiliate of South Korea's top automaker, Hyundai Motor Co. Together they form the world's fifth-largest automotive group.
Chung's resignation comes amid a wave of recalls that have shaken the global auto industry since Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. began calling in vehicles in October last year. The world's top automaker has recalled more than 10 million vehicles for problems including faulty gas pedals and floor mats.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo asked Chung to step down to take responsibility for the recalls as they suggested possible quality problems.
Neither Choo nor Hyundai Motor spokeswoman Song Meeyoung could confirm the report.
Chung, the former Kia executive, is no relation to the Hyundai chairman, Choo said.
Early this month Kia issued a global recall totaling 104,047 vehicles for a defect in electric wiring that controls mood lighting inside the car and could cause heat-related damage, according to Choo. Of that total, 35,185 vehicles were recalled in the United States, he said.
Seoul-based Kia has a complex management system. Though Chung held the top rank, day-to-day operations come under the control of two presidents: Hank Lee for overseas operations and Seo Young-jong for domestic operations, according to Choo. Seo also holds the title of CEO, said Pamela Munoz, a Kia spokeswoman.
Kia, which posted a 61 percent surge in second-quarter net profit, manufactures vehicles in South Korea as well as at overseas plants in China, Slovakia and the U.S.
The company's stock price fell 0.2 percent to close Tuesday at 33,400 won ($28.38). Kia shares tripled in value in 2009.
Source;
http://detnews.com/article/20100907/AUTO01/9070374/1148/auto01/Kia-s-top-executive-resigns-after-recalls
Kelly Olsen / Associated PressSeoul, South Korea -- The top executive at Kia Motors has resigned after the company recalled more than 100,000 vehicles worldwide over defective wiring, the automaker said Tuesday.
Chung Sung-eun, vice chairman and CEO of South Korea's No. 2 automaker, stepped down on Friday, according to company spokesman Michael Choo.
"His resignation comes in the light of the recent global recall issued by Kia Motors," Choo said, without elaborating. He said no successor has been named. Chung was one of two Kia CEOs.
Kia Motors Corp. is an affiliate of South Korea's top automaker, Hyundai Motor Co. Together they form the world's fifth-largest automotive group.
Chung's resignation comes amid a wave of recalls that have shaken the global auto industry since Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. began calling in vehicles in October last year. The world's top automaker has recalled more than 10 million vehicles for problems including faulty gas pedals and floor mats.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo asked Chung to step down to take responsibility for the recalls as they suggested possible quality problems.
Neither Choo nor Hyundai Motor spokeswoman Song Meeyoung could confirm the report.
Chung, the former Kia executive, is no relation to the Hyundai chairman, Choo said.
Early this month Kia issued a global recall totaling 104,047 vehicles for a defect in electric wiring that controls mood lighting inside the car and could cause heat-related damage, according to Choo. Of that total, 35,185 vehicles were recalled in the United States, he said.
Seoul-based Kia has a complex management system. Though Chung held the top rank, day-to-day operations come under the control of two presidents: Hank Lee for overseas operations and Seo Young-jong for domestic operations, according to Choo. Seo also holds the title of CEO, said Pamela Munoz, a Kia spokeswoman.
Kia, which posted a 61 percent surge in second-quarter net profit, manufactures vehicles in South Korea as well as at overseas plants in China, Slovakia and the U.S.
The company's stock price fell 0.2 percent to close Tuesday at 33,400 won ($28.38). Kia shares tripled in value in 2009.
Source;
http://detnews.com/article/20100907/AUTO01/9070374/1148/auto01/Kia-s-top-executive-resigns-after-recalls
Here Are The 10 Brands That Will Disappear In 2011 - KIA?!?!?
I don't claim to be a expert like these guys but I can't see this happening....
Kia Motors Corporation is one of the two car brands of Hyundai of South Korea. It has always been a marginal brand. Its stable mate, Hyundai USA, has a reputation for high quality cars like the Sonata and Genesis. Kia sells “low rent” cars and SUV nameplates like the Sorento and Rio.
As GM and Ford have already discovered, it is expensive to maintain multiple brands and storied car names, including Pontiac, Saturn, and Mercury, are disappearing.
Most Kia cars sell for $14,000 to $25,000. Hyundai has several cars in the same price range.
Hyundai’s Sonata has quickly become one of the best-selling cars in America, and its Genesis flagship model competes with mid-sized BMWs and Mercedes. The parent company will take a page from several other global car companies and dump its weakest
Source;
Me too!: 2012 Hyundai Veloster expected to breach the 40 mpg barrier
I can't help but think that what Honda and Toyota took 50 years to achieve, Hyundai is trying to accomplish in a short amount of time, alot of this seems rushed, only time will tell. Their cars are sure looking nicer, I'll give them that, and only time will really tell if they are on the right track. Competition's healthy though.
Hyundai’s upcoming small sports coupe will pierce the 40 miles-per-gallon barrier, according to Hyundai Motor America president John Krafcik.
In an interview at Los Angeles, Krafcik told reporters that with this figure, its coupe will be able to beat the new 2011 Honda CR-Z, which, which despite having a hybrid powertrain, achieves only 36/39 city/highway when equipped with a CVT and 31/37 with a manual gearbox. The Hyundai coupe, which could be named either Veloster or Tiburon, will be able to achieve those figures with a conventional four-cylinder engine, avoiding the additional cost, complexity and weight of a gas-electric system. Krafcik gave assurances that this model will beat the Honda in fuel economy and will also perform better as well as provide added utility, including rear seats and better access. Krafcik explained that since its coupe isn’t powered by a highly expensive hybrid drivetrain, it’s likely to be priced lower. Krafcik told Autoblog that the coupe will appeal to the world’s younger generation and increasingly auto-ambivalent consumers with additional technology. All Velosters are fitted with a large screen on the dashboard as standard equipment to manage connectivity features aside from the more conventional vehicle functions.
Source;
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/2012-hyundai-veloster-expected-to-breach-the-40-mpg-barrier/
Hyundai’s upcoming small sports coupe will pierce the 40 miles-per-gallon barrier, according to Hyundai Motor America president John Krafcik.In an interview at Los Angeles, Krafcik told reporters that with this figure, its coupe will be able to beat the new 2011 Honda CR-Z, which, which despite having a hybrid powertrain, achieves only 36/39 city/highway when equipped with a CVT and 31/37 with a manual gearbox. The Hyundai coupe, which could be named either Veloster or Tiburon, will be able to achieve those figures with a conventional four-cylinder engine, avoiding the additional cost, complexity and weight of a gas-electric system. Krafcik gave assurances that this model will beat the Honda in fuel economy and will also perform better as well as provide added utility, including rear seats and better access. Krafcik explained that since its coupe isn’t powered by a highly expensive hybrid drivetrain, it’s likely to be priced lower. Krafcik told Autoblog that the coupe will appeal to the world’s younger generation and increasingly auto-ambivalent consumers with additional technology. All Velosters are fitted with a large screen on the dashboard as standard equipment to manage connectivity features aside from the more conventional vehicle functions.
Source;
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/2012-hyundai-veloster-expected-to-breach-the-40-mpg-barrier/
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