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Kia and CarMax pull LA Clipper sponsorships in wake of alleged Sterling comments

There's fallout across the automotive advertising world today as companies react to alarming, racially insensitive statements alleged to have been made Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers franchise. Last Friday, entertainment website TMZ published excerpts from an audio recording, allegedly between Sterling and his girlfriend V. Stiviano, in which the Clippers owner said, among other things, that he didn't want her to bring black people to his games, including LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson. Sterling has yet to respond publicly to the allegations.
The story quickly gained steam over the weekend, and this Monday it has seen Kia Motors, auto sales website CarMax and insurance giant State Farm all pull sponsorship activities with the Clippers.
In a statement Kia said the alleged statements by Sterling were, "offensive and reprehensible," calling them "inconsistent with our views and values." Kia says it is "suspending" its advertising and sponsorship activities with the team, though has yet to clarify if that suspension includes commercials featuring NBA star and Clippers power forward Blake Griffin.

Hyundai Palisade and Genesis GV80 production idled

In February of this year, the coronavirus pandemic forced Hyundai Motor Company to idle production at most of its factories in South Korea. The Chinese suppliers that provided wiring harnesses for models like the Hyundai Palisade and Genesis GV80 hadn't recovered from their COVID-19 shutdowns, causing a shortage of components. Since then, Hyundai, along with automakers around the globe, has faced repeated hurdles to restoring desired production numbers. Just-Auto reports another hiccup, with Hyundai compelled to shut down lines that build the Palisade and GV80 at its Ulsan, South Korea complex again last week over a lack of parts. Just-Auto didn't specify the parts in question. On top of that, Hyundai had already idled three lines at two plants after an employee at a supplier died, the cause of death thought to be COVID-19. Kia needed to do the same for two entire facilities in South Korea after two plant workers were diagnosed with the illness. In the U.S., Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama was idled from March 18 to May 4, resuming production at lower output on May 4 to manage inventory after the coronavirus and lockdown measures gutted new car sales.   Hyundai, like giant Ford and tiny McLaren, will be ruing the lost momentum of its recovery. The group turned in its best quarterly profit since 2017 at the end of last year, thanks to the larger margins that crossovers and SUVs deliver. Hyundai brand U.S. sales last year of 688,771 units was tantalizing close to an annual sum the brand hasn't hit since 2012. In January, the automaker predicted it would improve on last year's 3.5% group operating profit margin by hitting 5% this year. The nearly 10,000 reservations taken for the GV80 fueled the optimism, when Genesis sold just over 21,000 vehicles in total last year in the U.S. However, through the first quarter, group sales were down 11% globally and in the U.S. Worse, Just-Auto says the group's global sales have nosedived 26% through the first five months. The production halts on the models that deliver the best return will prolong the pain and make it sharper. Related Video:

Kia Sportage makes a funny face in Frankfurt

The all-new Kia Sportage has made its big debut at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, introducing sheet metal inspired by the brand's previous concepts. Our first post on the new model only featured a trio of exterior images, we now have shots of the redesigned cabin. As we said originally, both the Provo and Niro, a pair of 2013 concepts from Geneva and Frankfurt, inspired the exterior design. We still aren't sold on the new fascia, which reminds us of the old Subaru B9 Tribeca. Perhaps it'll grow on us. As for the interior, which we're seeing for the first time, it's, well, kind of exactly what we expected. The quality appears to be good and the overall design conservative. Conventional instruments flank a small color display that looks to be no more than four inches, while a larger touchscreen sits atop the center stack. Its main functions are controlled via a series of buttons found below the screen and above the HVAC controls. While the model on display in Europe sports a manual transmission, we'd expect no such gearbox to be offered in the US. Here, the smart money is on a six-speed automatic being standard, and we're betting there won't be any huge changes in the engine lineup. That should mean a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder in the base and volume models, while the range-topping SX will likely offer Hyundai/Kia's popular 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder, just like today's Sportage. We've got a full gallery of live images of the new Sportage available at the top of the page. Have a look and let us know what you think of Kia's work.