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Automakers teaming with Google to bring Android to cars this year

Remember how we mentioned that Hyundai would be offering a BlueLink infotainment app for Google Glass? And how last week, we told you about a rumored partnership between Audi and Google? Well, both of these things were just part of a much bigger deal.
Google has teamed up with Audi, General Motors, Hyundai and Honda to form the Open Automotive Alliance. With the help of chipmaker NVIDIA, the group aims to bring Google's Android operating system to the auto industry on a large scale. While the speed with which Android will be adopted by the industry remains unclear - the OAA's own press release says "timing for each automaker will vary" - we could see the first Android-equipped vehicle by year's end.
For those that keep their ear to the ground in the automotive tech world, this is a big deal for more than just one reason - Honda, GM and Hyundai are all partners in the Siri Eyes Free program from Apple. The future of that relationship now that three of its automakers are in bed with Apple's arch-rival, though, could be under threat.

How the Koreans are cracking the luxury market

South Korea's two largest automotive brands are no longer the same companies they were when they first entered the world stage.
Anyone who visits Seoul after a few years absence is likely going to be in for a shock. What was, not that long ago, a decidedly third-world city is today a thriving, sprawling metropolis increasingly on a par with the world's most modern cities.

Hyundai i20 Sport previews future N Division hot hatches

Hyundai is in the process of launching its own performance sub-brand that, eventually, will yield its own line of hot hatches. But while we wait for those to arrive, the Korean automaker has given us a little taste of what's to come with the i20 Sport you see here. Launched exclusively in Germany (where Hyundai Motorsport is based), the Hyundai i20 Sport is based on the Korean automaker's Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo rival – and the basis for its World Rally Championship contender. The new Sport variant is more of a warmed-over job than an outright hot hatch, but it's not without its share of performance enhancements. The suspension is lowered and mounted to 18-inch OZ wheels. It features a new aero kit, though you might have missed it given the attention-grabbing (but optional) graphics. And the engine – while just a modest 1.0-liter turbocharged inline-three – produces a not inconsequential 120 horsepower. That's fairly competitive for an engine that size... especially when you can row the most out of it with a six-speed manual like the one fitted to the i20 Sport. Those specs are a promising harbinger of things to come. Hyundai's N division has already recruited top talent from BMW M GmbH, shown us where its heart is at with the N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo concept, and promoted itself through the company's WRC effort. We're looking forward to seeing how the i20 N (or whatever it's called) will shape up, but in the meantime the Sport model you see here gives us an idea of what it will look like. Related Video: Featured Gallery Hyundai i20 Sport News Source: Hyundai Hyundai Hatchback Performance hyundai i20