2014 Kia Cadenza on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: unofficial Tesla ad, VW will produce Budd-e

An unofficial Tesla commercial pays homage to the automaker's namesake. The video, which shows the Model S driving through a dusty, petroleum-addicted landscape reminiscent of a Mad Max film, features words from a speech by electricity-obsessed inventor Nikola Tesla. While Tesla (the man) talks about advancing technology into the future through electricity, the cars surroundings switch from the barren oil village to a green countryside dotted with wind turbines. See the video above, and read more at Treehugger. Famous rapper Akon is a Tesla fan who wants to power Africa with solar energy. Akon, who once boasted a collection of 28 exotic cars, traded them in for four Teslas, including a Model X. Also, his organization Akon Lighting Africa provides free solar electricity and lighting to communities that need it. Clean Technica talked to Akon about solar power, Tesla and EVs in a video. See the video and read more at Clean Technica, and get more perspective from Teslarati. The Volkswagen BUDD-e EV may be moving to production. The electric vehicle, built on the MEB modular platform with looks borrowed from the Microbus, made its debut as a concept vehicle at CES this year. Volkwagen's Dr. Volkmar Tanneberger tells Car magazine, "You will see a car that looks a lot like this, on the MEB platform, reach production. I can't say exactly when, but 2020 or thereabouts." He also says that the California camper van and Transporter van will continue production with internal combustion engines. Read more from Car. The 2017 Kia Soul EV will have more range. While it is scheduled for some minor updates, upping the electric Soul's driving range from its current EPA rating of 93 miles will hopefully attract more customers than a simple facelift. Autocar spied the next Soul EV testing in some heavy camouflage, but it offered no other details about the range beyond its reported expansion. Read more from Plugin Cars.

Volkswagen Group, BMW Z4 top Total Value Awards by Strategic Vision

It was just nine months ago that Strategic Vision announced its 2011 Total Value Awards, but you don't have to wait until next year for the 2012 awards. The Volkswagen Group keeps its lead as the number one brand, with seven products taking top category spots: Golf, Jetta Wagon, CC, Eos and Audi A3 Wagon, Q5 and Q7. Strategic Vision says "true innovation" - "rich and impactful, intuitive, motivational, in-depth and is able to trigger description by the user in great specificity" - is the open secret of the brands with the strongest showings. Results are culled from 77,153 owners covering more than 350 new cars bought between September of 2011 and 2012 ranked in the Total Value Index (TVI).
Other notable winners are Hyundai-Kia following VW in the brand category and having the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Sorento among category winners, the BMW Z4 taking the premium roadster category and the highest overall score of any vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt continuing to gather silverware in the Special Category, nabbing the second-highest score of all and representative of "nearly perfect innovation," and Chrysler and Dodge being most improved.
Check out the press release below for your day's dose of jargon and all the winners.

2020 Kia Forte GT priced under $24,000

The 2020 Kia Forte GT sporty compact sedan was revealed way back at last year's SEMA show along with its turbocharged 1.6-liter engine making 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. Kia has been pretty quiet about the car until now, having finally revealed its price tag. The cheapest model starts at $23,215 with the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Switching to six-speed manual transmission bumps the price up to $23,815. Regardless of transmission, the Kia Forte GT is cheaper than its Hyundai cousins with the same engine. The Veloster Turbo R-Spec is next in line with a price of $24,070, then the Elantra GT N-Line at $24,230, and the Elantra Sport at $24,730. Besides the turbocharged engine, the Forte GT boasts an independent multi-link rear suspension rather than the standard model's rear torsion beam. It also has unique exterior accents such as a red-accented grille, rear spoiler, side skirts and special wheels. 2020 Kia Forte GT-Line View 14 Photos If you don't care about power, but still like the look of the GT, there's also the newly added Forte GT-Line. It has the same body upgrades, but with the regular Forte's 147-horsepower naturally aspirated engine and CVT. And to help make up for the lack of power, it adds blind-spot warning and rear cross traffic alert. It's also cheaper with a price of $21,315. As for the rest of the Forte lineup, prices and equipment lists are unchanged from 2019. The 2020 Forte models should show up on dealer lots by the end of the year.