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2018 Kia Niro PHEV Review | More MPG than an SUV, less weird than a hybrid

PORTLAND, Ore. — It seems like such a no-brainer. The 2018 Kia Niro PHEV has the body of a little SUV, which is just the thing that everyone, their mother, brother, and friend named Phil are clamoring for at the moment. The rest of the plug-in hybrid segment is dominated by slug-shaped eco mobiles that ape the Toyota Prius or that are literally a Toyota Prius. Personally, I don't want to drive a slug. I also don't want to deal with weird interior controls, weirder interior design or four-person back seats. The Niro is very normal by comparison. Get in, press start, slide completely normal PRNDL shifter into D, and go. Better still, the PHEV doesn't suffer from the laggardly throttle response of the regular hybrid Niro that hampers drivability and makes its EPA-estimated 49 mpg combined a bit of a mirage. You'll either get that mpg and live with an accelerator pedal seemingly unattached to the powertrain, or slot the shifter into Sport and live with fuel economy in the low 40's. That's far superior to the 20-something you'd get in comparably sized SUVs, but still short of the 50-something-mpg in the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight or the Niro's mechanically related Hyundai Ioniq cousin. Compared to a typical, disconnected-feeling PHEV throttle, the Niro PHEV's throttle is perfectly normal, leaving Sport to those moments when you want a little extra zest from your plug-in hybrid (such a moment never seemed to arise). One can assume this is due to the larger battery that allows for greater electric input even when the plug-in battery range is depleted. When filled to the brim, it offers an EPA-estimated all-electric range of 26 miles, a figure I bettered by 1 mile during my evaluation route. That's nearly half of what you can get out of a Chevy Volt or Honda Clarity PHEV, but is similar to the Toyota Prius Prime and Ioniq PHEV. And really, how much you drive in all-electric mode makes the biggest difference. If your daily commute is in the 20-mile range, it doesn't really matter which of the above-mentioned plug-ins you choose. If it's more, though, the others will make more sense. The Volt and Clarity can run on electricity longer, and the Prius Prime and Ioniq are more efficient once their plug-in range is depleted. In the end, though, isn't this really just splitting hairs?

New electric Kia spied, looks like the production version of the Imagine Concept

Last we heard, Kia had plans to bring forth a production version of the Kia Imagine Concept vehicle. These spy photos today suggest that the intel was good, and Kia is well on its way to transforming its concept into a production car. The shape and proportions of the heavily camouflaged car seen in photos here are the two most intriguing elements. From the side, this vehicle looks like a short, lifted wagon. One look at the Imagine Concept is all you need to know where this one is going, though. Its roof slopes further downward the closer you get to the rear of the car, and despite the black tenting, we can still see that it’s going to have a heavily raked rear window like the concept. In a nutshell, the best way we can describe this thing right now is a cross between a wagon and a “crossover coupe.” Kia called the concept a sedan, but the higher-than-normal ride height suggests something in the same vein as the V60 Cross Country. One other big element in all of this is its powertrain. The Kia Imagine Concept is an electric car, so we can assume that Kia is going to keep the production version of it electric. ThereÂ’s no sign of an exhaust hanging out under there. ItÂ’s a pretty safe bet that this camouflaged tester is electric, which will just add to the legion of electric cars Hyundai and Kia have on the way or at dealerships now. The last new electric car out of Korea that we spied was the 45, which is yet another EV based on a recent concept car. Assuming the coronavirus didnÂ’t knock the Imagine ConceptÂ’s timing too far off track, we expect to see it revealed in full in 2021. The concept was revealed in Geneva, so that would suggest that itÂ’s definitely bound for Europe. However, itÂ’s unclear whether Kia will also sell the vehicle here. With the illusion of it being a crossover, Kia might try its luck. If there are Kias it reminds us of the most, though, itÂ’s the XCeed and ProCeed. Obviously, we donÂ’t get either here, which is a shame because the new ones are rather attractive. We will hopefully have more concrete news on this car in the coming months or in 2021. Related video:

Hyundai, Kia ratchet up fleet sales as retail transactions slide

Automotive News reports both Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales in an attempt to offset disappointing first quarter results. The Korean automakers saw their sales decline by nine percent compared to last year, while all major competitors managed to increase their sales. That situation marks an inversion of two years ago, when both gained ground after Japanese rivals suffered production and inventory shortages after the country's earthquake and tsunami tragedies.
Now, Hyundai can't come up with enough volume models in popular trim configurations to satisfy buyers, and lower-volume models are also in a snag. At the moment, Hyundai can only build 20-30 percent of Veloster hatchbacks with turbocharged engines while the US market would apparently support closer to 70 percent.
In order to reverse the sales slide, Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales of the vehicles they do have by some 50 percent, ringing up a total of 42,400 units in the first quarter. By contrast, Automotive News reports the seven largest automakers increased retail volume by seven percent and fleet sales by four percent as a group.