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Hyundai, Kia announce buyback plan for angry Korean investors

Hyundai's controversial decision last September to move its Korean headquarters to an expansive (and expensive) new facility was met with a swift backlash by shareholders. After making the biggest land purchase in South Korean history, the company's share price took a nine-point nose dive.
Now, in a bid to get back in the good graces of its stockholders, Hyundai and its subsidiary, Kia, will make a $615-million stock buyback plan. Reuters claims this is the first time in ten years that Hyundai has made a buyback offer with the explicit purpose of pumping up share prices.
The total deal bumped up Hyundai's share prices 5.7 percent while Kia is up two percent, although neither company has fully recovered from the battering that followed the headquarters announcement. It's unclear what else it will take for Hyundai to recover the ground it lost during the land deal.

2016 Kia Cee'd GT Line brings new 1.0-liter engine to Geneva

The Kia Sportspace Concept might exhibit the future of the Korean brand's styling, but the Cee'd GT Line at the Geneva Motor Show is the first glimpse at two of the company's powertrain innovations – at least for the European market. The GT Line is meant as a compromise between the sporty Cee'd GT and the regular model. By taking this path, buyers get slightly angrier styling on the outside but more efficient engines under the hood. Offered in the three-door, five-door and wagon bodies, these models get LED running lights up front, lower side sills, an updated rear bumper, a revised exhaust design and 17-inch wheels. However, what really makes the GT Line something special is this is the first opportunity for European buyers to get Kia's new 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine and separately its seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The tiny mill with stop/start makes 118 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque in the Cee'd and is only available with a six-speed manual. Conversely, customers that want the new gearbox need to order the upgraded 1.6-liter diesel four-cylinder with 131 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque. All versions of this slightly warmer hatch go on sale in the fourth quarter across the pond. SPORTY KIA CEE'D GT LINE LAUNCHED WITH NEW ENGINE AND DUAL-CLUTCH TRANSMISSION GT Line model blends the looks of sporty cee'd GT and versatility of the conventional cee'd , inside and out Debut for Kia's all-new three-cylinder 1.0-litre T-GDi engine More power and torque and fewer emissions form new seven-speed DCT Kia cee'd GT Line available across Europe in Q4 2015 Kia Motors Europe will unveil a new Kia cee'd 'GT Line' specification at the 85th Salon International de l'Automobile in Geneva on 3 March 2015. In addition to a range of visual upgrades, the new cee'd GT Line signifies the arrival of Kia's all-new downsized 1.0-litre T-GDi (turbo gasoline direct injection) engine and new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission in Europe. The look of the GT, the versatility of a conventional cee'd The new GT Line offers buyers the sporty looks of the high performance Kia cee'd GT and pro_cee'd GT and the versatility of the conventional cee'd model family. The GT Line specification is available on all three cee'd body types – five-door cee'd, three-door pro_cee'd and cee'd Sportswagon.

2014 Kia Forte Koup SX

The Kia Forte and Hyundai Elantra have long followed similar paths, with each available in a four-door sedan, a five-door hatch and (most recently) a two-door coupe bodystyle. The recent death of the Hyundai Elantra Coupe in the US may be threatening to change the narrative on these two affordable compact lines, of course, but the Korean two-doors have a lot in common under their distinct skins. Their most recent iterations came to market under the power of the same 2.0-liter, 173-horsepower four-cylinder paired with six-speed automatic transmissions and riding atop MacPherson strut front suspensions and torsion-beam setups out back. Each arrived weighing between 2,800 and 3,000 pounds and could be had in base form for less than $20,000. Considering this, the empirical performance stats figured to be similar.
There's an important distinction to be made, however. Rather than offer a simple two-door version of a four-door car, like Hyundai did with its Elantra Coupe, Kia has gone to lengths to craft a vehicle with its own unique attitude and attributes. Kia has embraced a sportier stance with its two-door Forte Koup, offering up a standard six-speed manual and going further in an effort to craft a more unique, aggressive coupe design.
That drive to be different was further accentuated last year, when Kia raided Hyundai's parts bin and plucked out the 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the Veloster Turbo. The resulting car is decidedly different than any other Forte we've tested, while also feeling like a better all-around product than the smaller hot hatch it stole its engine from. To see just how much better, we drove the Forte Koup SX for a week and set about seeing how this enhanced model stacks up as a performance offering.