2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Base on 2040-cars

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Hyundai-Kia claims 'greenest' title from Honda, Big Three still big losers

Let's start with the good news. On average, any new car you buy in the US today will be 43 percent cleaner than any average new car in 1998. Here's some more good news, for Korea anyway, Hyundai-Kia has been named the cleanest automaker in the latest study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which looked at 2013 model year vehicles sold between October 2012 and September 2013 from the top eight automakers (by volume). The bad news? The big three Detroit automakers are, on average, still making the dirtiest cars in the showroom. The big three Detroit automakers are, on average, still making the dirtiest cars in the showroom. The problem for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler lies in their trucks, which sell well but tend to have pretty bad fuel economy (compared to sedans, at least). The UCS calculates its list by averaging "the per-mile emissions for each light-duty vehicle sold by each automaker" and then factors in "the fuel economy, fuel type, and sales volume of each type of vehicle sold by each automaker" and "the upstream global warming emissions from producing and distributing the fuel used by each vehicle, as well as emissions from the vehicles themselves." That all means that, the more trucks you sell, the worse you're gonna do. Then again, the more trucks you sell with 18 mpg, the more you're helping drivers put CO2 into the air, so the UCS is doing a fair comparison of the things that this study is trying to track. More details on the methodology are available on page six of the study PDF. In case you were wondering (we were), UCS did make sure to use the revised mpg numbers for Hyundai and Kia models that were originally overstated. Hyundai has apologized for and fixed those figures and even with the new, corrected numbers, Hyundai's total emissions are dropping at a rate of about three percent a year, enough for it to take the greenest company title for the first time. In fact, this is the first time that an automaker other than Honda has come out on top in the UCS ranking, which has been released six times now, including the first one in 2000 (which looked at 1998 model year data). In 2010, Honda was almost knocked off the winner's perch by both Hyundai and Toyota, but managed to hold on. Chrysler, on the other hand, came in dead last (again) in the ranking of the top eight automakers, snagging the "dirtiest tailpipe" award once (again). Read the UCS' press release below.

Hyundai Santa Cruz, Kona N and Elantra Hybrid | Autoblog Podcast #691

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor, James Riswick. They've been driving a lot of new cars, including the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup, 2022 Hyundai Kona N, 2021 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, 2021 Acura TLX Type S and 2022 Hyundai Genesis G70. Lamborghini revealed a modern interpretation of the Countach, for better or worse. Finally, they heelp a listener replace a 2013 Ford Edge in this week's "Spend My Money" segment. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #691 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz 2022 Hyundai Kona N 2021 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid 2021 Acura TLX Type S 2022 Hyundai Genesis G70 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 revealed Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video:

2014 Hyundai Azera gives you more for less

The Azera is sort of the forgotten Hyundai. Despite just having rolled out the new version a couple of years ago, the Korean automaker hasn't been able to move them very quickly. Where the smaller Sonata and Elantra sell in the tens of thousands each month, the fullsize Azera barely reaches that in a year. In fact it's Hyundai's second slowest-selling model, behind the flagship Equus. But Hyundai's not resigning itself to letting Azeras sit around on dealer lots. Thus, the company is actually reducing the car's price while increasing the array of standard equipment.
Now starting at $31,000, the base 2014 Azera now comes with a six-inch color LCD, backup camera, blind-spot mirror and three years of Assurance Connected Care services. Spring for the $34,750 Azera Limited and you get an eight-inch display, electroluminescent gauges, LCD trip computer and power folding mirrors.
Despite the increased level of specification, the Azera is now $1,250 cheaper than the previous-year model, while still offering the highest specific output and most front-seat room in its class. Scope out the details in the press release below and the fresh batch of images in the gallery above for a closer look.