2003 Hyundai Accent Gl Sedan 4-door 1.6l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hyundai sales slump in China over North Korea, standoff with Chinese partner

BEIJING/SEOUL — Hyundai is at loggerheads with its Chinese partner over efforts to cut supplier costs, as they grapple with cutthroat competition and the impact of a standoff between Beijing and Seoul. Hyundai, along with affiliate Kia, has been caught up in a political row over a missile defense system that is being deployed in South Korea, but opposed by China, as tensions grow over North Korean missile tests and last week's test of a nuclear bomb the North claims can be mounted on a missile. Sales of Hyundai cars in China have been falling, part of a backlash against South Korean brands over the missile system that China views as a threat to its own national security. On Tuesday, South Korea asked the United States to lift a limit on the explosive payloads it can use in the missile system. This as a North Korean missile, believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, was being tracked by intelligence services being moved on the ground toward North Korea's west coast and a possible launch site. That has come against the backdrop of ever tougher competition from local Chinese automakers. Until last year, Hyundai and Kia ranked third in China by sales. But Hyundai's sales alone have slumped 41 percent from January to July, fraying relations with local partner BAIC Motor Corp and making this the biggest crisis since Hyundai entered the Chinese market in 2002. Last month, Hyundai suspended production at its four China plants for a week after a French supplier refused to provide fuel tanks when its bills went unpaid. On Tuesday, Hyundai suspended production at one of its plants in China after a German firm went unpaid. Hyundai and BAIC — whose Beijing Hyundai joint venture is a 50:50 partnership — are divided over how to solve the issue of suppliers and tougher competition. Hyundai wants to protect its South Korean supply chain, while BAIC favors shifting to cheaper Chinese suppliers to cut costs, the people said. "BAIC wants to solve this aggressively and is ... asking Hyundai to change its sourcing strategy significantly and immediately," said the head of a Hyundai supplier based in Seoul, adding the idea was to source more locally from cheaper suppliers in China. Hyundai wants to solve this more gradually "over perhaps 5-10 years and do so in phases," the person said. BAIC declined to comment.

Hyundai Genesis Coupe to get bigger, lux up?

With the all-new, 2015 Hyundai Genesis Sedan hitting the road, it puts the current Genesis Coupe in a rather weird spot. The sporty model is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, and for 2015, it's dropped its four-cylinder engine in the US. Hyundai isn't letting the car whither on the vine, though. Behind closed doors, the Korean automaker is rumored to be working on a new coupe to transform the vehicle from something of a pony car in the current guise into a luxury grand tourer with avante garde styling.
The next-generation Genesis Coupe would reportedly borrow its design inspiration from the Hyundai HND-9 Sports Coupe Concept from the 2013 Seoul Motor Show, according to Australian site Go Auto. The key to the new model is growing it larger to be able to seat four adults and giving it more grown-up styling at the same time. Go Auto claims that the coupe could finally get a V8 engine option and possibly a V6 and turbocharged four-cylinder in at least some markets, too. It's slated for a possible 2016 unveiling.
Even during the HND-9's unveiling, Hyundai admitted that the concept projected of the design direction for future models. Its styling was certainly a big shift from the current Genesis Coupe with more hard creases, a wide, mesh grille and butterfly doors. The show car also packed a 3.3-liter turbocharged, direct-injected engine with 364 horsepower and an eight-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels.

Hyundai bets big on crossovers sporting diesel, electric, hydrogen powertrains by 2020

Hyundai announced a very aggressive crossover strategy for the next couple of years, with a total of eight vehicles launched between now and 2020. One of those is the already revealed sub-compact Hyundai Kona. The other seven crossovers range in size and fuel types, and Miles Johnson at Hyundai confirmed to us that all of them will be coming to the U.S. The first to launch is the aforementioned Kona, coming in early 2018. Also coming early that year is an unnamed hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. This hydrogen crossover will likely be sized and styled similarly to the FE Fuel Cell Concept shown at this year's Geneva show. A previous report about the production version stated that it would have a range of about 360 miles. Later that year will be two unnamed crossovers without any indication of size. They will also be joined by an electric crossover. In 2019, Hyundai has three crossovers planned for release. Early in the year will be a diesel-powered crossover. Hyundai gives no indication of what segment it would compete in, but so far we've only seen diesels in compact crossovers such as the Chevy Equinox diesel and upcoming Mazda CX-5 diesel. Mid-year will welcome a midsize crossover, and the year will be capped off with an A-segment crossover. Johnson also confirmed that this A-segment crossover will be smaller than the Kona. It could be an outright replacement for the Hyundai Accent hatchback, which did not return to the U.S. with the new sedan. Though we don't have much information regarding the unnamed and unspecified crossovers in the plan, Johnson did confirm that some of the crossovers in this rollout will include redesigned versions of existing offerings. This may include a new Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport, or whatever the Santa Fe Sport will become. The company has previously stated that the Santa Fe Sport will be resized and probably renamed, and the regular Santa Fe would be larger the next time around. These changes would also make room for another small to midsize crossover. Related Video: Image Credit: Hyundai Green Hyundai Crossover SUV Diesel Vehicles Economy Cars Electric Future Vehicles Hydrogen Cars hyundai kona