2003 Hyundai Tiburon Gt Coupe 2-door 2.7l on 2040-cars

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Hyundai expanding Tucson fuel cell deliveries to NorCal soon

The Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell hasn't exactly sold a bazillion copies, but that's all according to plan. Hyundai – like Toyota and Honda with their hydrogen vehicles – it keeping deliveries under control because there just aren't that many H2 refueling centers. Right now, all of these hydrogen vehicles are tooling around the LA area. At the Washington Auto Show this week, Hyundai announced that it would soon start deliveries in Northern California as well. There was no date set for the San Francisco-Bay Area hydrogen cars to arrive, but Hyundai's Mike O'Brien said that because, "We will sell them where there's fuel." Stations are supposed to begin opening in NorCal in the next few weeks. The next area that Hyundai suspects to launch the Tucson Fuel Cell is in the Northeast, which is the plan that other automakers have as well. The Tucson Fuel Cell leases for $499 a month, and includes free hydrogen fuel. There are currently around a dozen stations open in California. O'Brien said that 53 stations have been given fund guarantees by the state of California, but 23 have not yet broken ground. The biggest hurdle, he said, is regulatory – getting all of the different government agencies to work together to approve construction. Hyundai wants governments to get cracking on installing more hydrogen stations because it has plans to sell a second hydrogen vehicle at some point in the world by 2020. Up next on the green car front – we'll see it in Chicago early next month, in fact – is the Ioniq, which will be available with a pure EV, a PHEV and a standard hybrid. Whether the Ioniq will get a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain at some point has not been announced or even hinted at, but we would not be surprised if it does.

Hyundai expanding US plant capacity for SUV production

With cheap gasoline still driving CUV and SUV sales, three anonymous sources are reporting to Automotive News that Hyundai is looking to expand production at its Montgomery, AL factory with an eye towards production of high-riders. The Montgomery factory is currently responsible for Elantra and Sonata production, although as both sedans have faced slagging sales, Hyundai is seemingly taking a second look at its production priorities. "It's a new assembly line right next to the current Alabama line. State of Alabama is negotiating final terms," one of the sources told AN. The other two sources, meanwhile, indicated that while the company has been mulling expanded production in America, a final decision hadn't been made yet. As for what vehicle could join the Elantra and Sonata on a new line in Alabama, Korea Investment and Securities auto analyst Suh Sung-moon told AN the Santa Fe could move from its current home at the Kia facility in Georgia, although the Montgomery factory could also accommodate production of the compact Tucson (it's unclear if Suh was referencing the next-generation Tucson that debuted in Geneva or the current model) or even a pickup truck, were Hyundai to go such a route. Meanwhile, AN reports that Korea's Yonhap News Agency expects the Montgomery facility to be able to produce 300,000 vehicles, including an SUV, by 2017. While Hyundai declined Automotive News's inquiries, we have our ear to the ground for any official information from the South Korean marque.

Did a US automaker blow the whistle on Hyundai, Kia fuel economy issue?

In all of the most hotly contested mainstream segments of the motoring universe, the difference of one mile per gallon averaged on a widow sticker can mean the difference between a sale and a walk-off - to say nothing of two or three mpg. So, when Hyundai and Kia were forced to reveal that many of their 40-mpg ratings were actually 38s and 37s, well, it made for big news.
It also, conceivably, made for a competitive disadvantage immediately, when the Korean automakers' products were being shopped versus the guys down the block. And it's that disadvantage that makes a recent story from Automotive News so juicy.
AN is reporting that Margo Oge, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, got a tip in 2010 that Hyundai/Kia were "cheating" to get its impressive fuel economy numbers. The tip, said Oge (who retired from the EPA this past September), came from a senior vice president from a domestic automaker. The source was credible enough for Oge to launch an audit of the Hyundai figures, which ultimately lead to the debacle that we reported on a few months ago, and that the Korean company has been trying to bounce back from ever since.