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Kia unveils Horki sub-brand in China, kicks off with concept car

While we were busy ogling new vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz GLA Concept, Maserati Ghibli and Hongqi L9 at the Shanghai Motor Show, Kia was busy unveiling an entire brand. Through its Chinese joint venture, Dongfeng Yueda Kia (or DYK), the South Korean automaker has introduced its new Horki sub-brand and a concept car, simply called the Horki Concept.
The name Horki comes from the combination of two Chinese characters "Hor" and "Ki," which translates to "China driving." As this suggests, the brand will only be offered in China, and this concept sedan shares its platform with the 2014 Kia Forte. We didn't happen to catch the car live at the auto show, and apparently neither did Kia, since it only provided us with some drawings rather than live (or even studio) shots of the actual concept car. Thankfully, our friends at Newspress managed to ferret it out, so we have a couple of live pics to share after all.

Hyundai Q1 profit triples, as it adjusts production due to chip shortage

  SEOUL — Hyundai Motor Co posted a first-quarter profit that nearly tripled to its highest in four years as people bought its luxury cars, but warned it would have to adjust production again in May because of a chip shortage. Unlike its rivals, the South Korean automaker staved off production halts in the first quarter, thanks to a healthy chip inventory. But the shortage, exacerbated by factors including a fire at a chip factory in Japan and storms in Texas, is now catching up with Hyundai. Hyundai, which has lagged its rivals in the electric vehicle (EV) race, also said on Thursday that it was developing solid-state batteries and planned to mass produce EVs using solid state batteries in 2030. In February, Hyundai launched its Ioniq 5 electric midsize crossover, the first in a planned family of EVs that it hopes will propel it into the third rank of global EV makers by 2025. Hyundai Motor and Kia together aim to sell 1 million EVs in 2025. In the quarter ended March 31, Hyundai was unscathed as people at home and the United States snapped up its high-margin sports-utility vehicles and premium Genesis cars as the coronavirus pandemic dragged on, fueling car ownership. Net profit surged 187% to 1.3 trillion won ($1.16 billion) from 463 billion a year earlier, when business slumped as countries shut down to limit the spread of the coronavirus. This was in line with an average Refinitiv SmartEstimate. Revenue rose 8.2% to 27.4 trillion won. Hyundai is expected to report net profit of 1.4 trillion won for the April-June period, up 536% from the corresponding period a year earlier, Refinitiv SmartEstimate showed. Hyundai affiliate Kia Corp reported operating profit of 1.1 trillion won for January-March, up 142% on the year. Hyundai, which together with Kia is among the world's top 10 automakers by sales, has temporarily paused production three times since the beginning of this month and saved chips for its most popular models. "The condition of semiconductor parts is being a little more prolonged than we expected," said Seo Gang-hyun, an executive vice president at Hyundai. "As the semiconductor procurement condition is rapidly changing, it's difficult to predict production status after May.

Recharge Wrap-up: Kia Soul EV, Renault Zoe range boosts

California has removed its limit on the number of HOV lane access stickers available for plug-in hybrids. While the state removed limits for white stickers for solo drivers of battery electric vehicles to use the carpool lane, the green stickers for PHEVs and range-extended EVs had a limit of 85,000, which was reached months ago. Now, BEVs and PHEVs will each have an unlimited number of access stickers until the program expires on January 1, 2019. Read more at Green Car Reports. Kia could improve the driving range of the Soul EV in order to better compete with newer offerings. While its 93-mile range was competitive with most EVs when it was launched as a 2015 model, the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 have since surpassed it, and other forthcoming affordable EVs like the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3 will set the bar even higher. As such, Autocar says the Soul EV should get a range boost with a mid-cycle refresh for the 2018 model year. Read more at Autocar, and at Green Car Reports. Renault said to be set to unveil a new Zoe EV with a driving range of over 200 miles. With a debut at the Paris Motor Show in October, the popular European EV hatchback will about double its current range. Using a new battery pack from LG Chem, as well as a smaller, more efficient electric motor, the improved range would help make the Zoe even more popular as people make the switch to electric driving in Europe. Read more from Electrek. Related Gallery 2016 Renault Zoe Z.E.: Geneva 2016 View 16 Photos News Source: Green Car Reports, Green Car Reports, Autocar, ElectrekImage Credit: Kia Government/Legal Green Kia Renault Electric recharge wrapup