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Hyundai admits 'error' in KDM Sonata fuel economy announcement

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Hyundai is going to have to reduce the officially announced miles-per-gallon number for its 2014 Sonata. While there's a lot of similarity between this new situation and events that transpired in 2012, there are some important differences. For one, the new mileage mistake, which Hyundai says was once again caused by an error at its test centers, is only applicable to cars in the Korean Domestic Market. Secondly, it's not so much mpg as kilometers per liter. "We are very sorry for causing confusion to reporters" - Hyundai According to Reuters, the numbers for the Korean Sonata were originally announced as 12.6 kilometers per liter (29.63 mpg), a six-percent increase over the previous model. The automaker has just announced that government verification showed an actual result of 12.1 kpl (28.46 mpg), which is only a two-percent increase. Since these numbers were done using the South Korean economy test, they are not equivalent to the US EPA numbers, the latter of which say the 2014 Sonata gets 36/40/38 miles per gallon. The correction came before the new Sonata went on sale in South Korea. In an official statement, Hyundai said, "We are very sorry for causing confusion to reporters." Hyundai Motor America's Jim Trainor, product public relations senior group manager, assured AutoblogGreen that the Korean error will have "no effect" on US ratings. In 2012, Hyundai and Kia faced a media and consumer firestorm after being caught up in exaggerated mileage claims for vehicles like its 2013 Accent, Veloster and Elantra. The sister companies agreed to compensate buyers to the tune of $395 million for what they said were "honest mistakes" and "human error" during in-house fuel economy tests. There is no word yet on whether similar customer satisfaction actions will follow this domestic market snafu.

Trump encouraged by talk of 'a level playing field' on trade with South Korea

South Korea is a longstanding American ally, but President Donald Trump has spoken harshly about U.S. trade imbalances and threatened to tear up the bilateral trade pact. "We will do more to remove barriers to reciprocal trade and market access," Trump said, adding that the two leaders had talked about the thorny trade areas of steel and autos. Trump said he was encouraged by South Korea's President Moon Jae-in's assurances that he would seek a level playing field for American workers and businesses, particularly automakers. A joint statement said the two sides had agreed to work together to reduce over supply of basic materials such as steel and non-tariff barriers. It also said Trump had accepted an invitation from Moon to visit South Korea this year. Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said it was unwise for Trump to air the trade issue so publicly. "Public complaints by Trump about unfair trade and inadequate defense spending provide opportunities for China and North Korea to drive a wedge between the allies," she said. The U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea has more than doubled since the U.S.-Korea free trade pact known as KORUS took effect in 2012. The agreement was forecast to boost U.S. exports by $10 billion a year, but in 2016 they were $3 billion lower than in 2011. At the start of Friday's talks, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the largest component of the deficit was automotive trade and many non-tariff barriers to U.S. auto exports to South Korea remained. "I think the way to address it is to deal product by product with what we can do to change the export side and what we can do to reduce the bad imports side," he said. Ross said later on Friday that some progress had been made in the talks. The current pact was agreed to despite protests by supporters of Moon, who was then in opposition. But analysts have suggested that given the need to preserve a unified front in the face of a hostile North Korea, there could be compromise on both sides to resolve issues. (By David Brunnstrom and Lisa Lambert. Additional reporting by Fatima Bhojani, Roberta Rampton, Tim Ahmann, David Chance, David Lawder and Eric Beech; Editing by Bill Trott and Andrew Hay) Related Video: Image Credit: Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters Government/Legal Genesis Hyundai Kia trade

Hyundai Motor plans 17 EVs, $16B investment by 2030

SEOUL — South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co said on Wednesday it planned to invest about 95.5 trillion won ($79.21 billion) through 2030, including about 19.4 trillion won ($16.10 billion) towards electric vehicle (EV) related businesses. It also said it plans to introduce 17 EVs in that timeframe, six from Genesis and 11 from the Hyundai brand. Hyundai announced that three of those EVs would be sedans, along with six SUVs, a light commercial vehicle and one new type of model. It will begin sales of the Ioniq 6 later this year, followed by the Ioniq 7 in 2024. Hyundai Motor, which together with affiliate Kia Corp is among the world's top 10 biggest automakers by sales, targets to achieve a 7% market share in the global EV market by 2030, with an annual sales target of 1.87 million vehicles, the automaker said during a virtual investor day. The Seoul-based automaker said it aimed to achieve an operating profit margin of 10% or higher in EV business by 2030. "Hyundai is successfully accelerating its transition to electrification and becoming a global leader in EVs despite a challenging business environment caused by the global chip shortage and ongoing pandemic," Hyundai Motor Chief Executive Officer Jaehoon Chang said. Analysts, however said Hyundai's $16 billion investment in EV business would not be considered an "aggressive" approach compared to its rivals, adding, the investment is easily dwarfed by bigger rivals including Toyota Motor Corp, which plans to invest 8 trillion yen ($69.43 billion) for electrification by 2030. "Hyundai is allocating about 20% of its 95.5 trillion won investment to EV related businesses, which includes building new plants, EV charging stations and strategic alliances with battery manufacturers and the investment amount for EV does not seem too surprising or aggressive," said Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Lee Jae-il. Chang said Hyundai was considering building new dedicated EV production plants without proving details of new factories, including locations and timeline. Analysts said Hyundai would be eying on building dedicated EV factories in the United States, as it considers that as its key EV market. Shares in Hyundai Motor closed down 2.6%, compared to the benchmark KOSPI's 0.2% gain. ($1 = 1,205.2600 won) ($1 = 115.2300 yen) (Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Rashmi Aich) Related video: This content is hosted by a third party.