2014 Kia Forte Koup Ex on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Superman joining Kia's Justice League-themed fleet of vehicles

Kia is teaming up with the Justice League once again to create another show car that will be on display at the Chicago Auto Show. At the 2012 SEMA Show, Kia showed off various models inspired by DC Entertainment characters Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and Cyborg, but a Superman-themed Kia Optima Hybrid will roll into the Windy City for next week's show.
In the above drawing, we only get to see a small portion of this car inspired by the Man of Steel, but it will have the requisite red-and-blue paint scheme with Superman's shield on the hood (subtle, it is not).
The previous cars include the Batman Optima, Aquaman Rio, Flash Forte Koup, Green Lantern Soul and Cyborg Forte. All six cars were created to raise awareness for the "We Can Be Heroes" campaign, which helps families in eastern Africa affected by drought and famine.

Kia Stonic not coming to America

Related: We obsessively covered the Frankfurt Motor Show — here's our complete coverage FRANKFURT, Germany — At this year's Frankfurt auto show, Kia showed off its new Stonic subcompact crossover, the Stonic. It features all of the hallmarks of the typical affordable little crossover. It has lots of customizability in the form of many two-tone paint options. It has chunky, lifted looks with plastic cladding. It also comes with class-competitive engines making 147 and 175 horsepower. It's also based on the same platform as the compelling little Kia Rio. It seems like a shoo-in for the American market, but when it goes on sale in Europe this year, it won't be doing the same on our shores. This was confirmed by a Kia representative. His official statement was that there are no current plans for selling it in the U.S. Considering how hot the crossover market is right now, even attracting corporate cousin Hyundai with its Kona, it seems surprising Kia wouldn't be interested in fielding its own take on the segment. Perhaps Kia has concerns about it cannibalizing sales of the highly successful Soul and the all-new Rio. We wouldn't count on the Stonic staying away from the States forever, though. All that was said was the Stonic isn't planned for the U.S. That's not an outright "no, it will not come here, period." It could just be that Kia isn't ready to announce the car's introduction here, or perhaps it's still gauging interest. Maybe Kia has other small crossover-esque plans, after all, as successful and competitive as the Soul has been, it's starting to age a bit. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Recharge Wrap-up: Kia Niro caught at Nurburgring, Tesla & Ben & Jerry

The Kia Niro hybrid was spied testing at the Nurburgring. The prototype of the 2016 Niro — which originally appeared as a concept at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show — is heavily camouflaged, so it is hard to tell which exterior features have been carried over. Its plate is registered to a hybrid, but other powertrain details are unavailable (the concept was equipped with a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine and electric drive system good for 158 horsepower). When it goes on sale, positioned below the Soul in Kia's lineup, it will only be available as a hybrid, with a plug-in hybrid version expected in later years. See the video above, and read more at Autoevolution and at Hybrid Cars. A new report from IHS Automotive predicts the EV charger market to surpass 12.7 million units by 2020. In Japan, the number of EV charging stations has surpassed the number of gas stations. The Netherlands, UK and Norway are the leaders in EV chargers in Europe, while Germany and France are slow in their infrastructure growth, relative to their size. CHAdeMO is the more popular charging standard worldwide, but CCS is expected to close the gap. According to the report, PHEVs will become more abundant than BEVs in 2016, and will remain so for a while. Read more at Green Car Congress. Kandi Electric Vehicles has signed a strategic agreement with telecommunications company ZTE Corporation and EV leasing company Zhejiang ZuoZhongYou Electric Vehicle Service (ZZY). The three groups will work together to improve Kandi's "Micro Public Transportation (MPT)" carsharing program. They'll collaborate on promotion, creating a research institute, doing research and development for wireless charging and making their operating system easier to use, among other endeavors. "We are excited to connect Kandi's innovative MPT model with ZTE's cutting-edge technologies," says Kandi Chairman and CEO Hu Xiaoming. "By leveraging ZZY's premium services, our goal is to accelerate MPT's market penetration, maintain our leadership position and achieve greater success in China's booming EV industry." Read more in the press release below. Ben & Jerry's debuted a new ice cream flavor at the Tesla Motors factory in Fremont, CA. Tesla built a special Model S in honor of the event and the new flavor, which is called Save Our Swirled.