2011 Kia Optima Ex Turbo on 2040-cars

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Kia GT five-door approved, will tackle A7, Panamera

Kia might finally be entering the four-door coupe market in the near future with a production version of its GT Concept from the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. According to Edmunds, Kia execs at that Paris Motor Show confirmed that the swoopy model finally has been given the green light to go on sale, and that would likely be sometime in 2016 in the US.
Kia would reportedly focus the GT on the US market, but a European version with a diesel is also a possibility. As with the K900 premium sedan, the brand is taking on some established competition with the new model, including the likes of the Audi A7 and Porsche Panamera. Judging from the rest of the Korean company's range, an attractive feature for many buyers would likely be a price several grand lower than the challengers in the segment.
"Four-door coupes aren't necessarily sales champs, but right now they are popular, just as the retro theme was the "in thing" 15 years ago," said auto industry analyst Dave Sullivan from AutoPacific to Autoblog. Something like the GT would also help with Kia's increasing focus on improving its design design because it can "make a statement about what your brand stands for."

Hyundai looking to add plant in Mexico

Mexico is rapidly becoming the go-to place for North American auto production, and companies including Toyota, General Motors, and Audi are all building new plants, expanding or shifting some production there. Now, Hyundai is investigating joining them in the future. "I'm sure that over the years we'll see production of Hyundai products in Mexico," Pedro Albarran, managing director for the automaker in Mexico, said to Bloomberg. Albarran indicates that a likely location for such a factory might be the state of Nuevo Leon, where Kia also has a forthcoming $1 billion plant. The site would be an ideal location near suppliers. It's probably going to be a while before any of Hyundai's models start coming out of Mexico. According to Bloomberg, the automaker wants to wait to make a final decision until sales there reach around 50,000 annual units, and that benchmark isn't expected until 2018. While Kia's plant is slated to have a capacity around 300,000 vehicles a year when it opens in 2016, Albarran thinks Hyundai might start smaller at just over 100,000 annual examples. Some of those would likely include subcompact models for the Mexican market. The Korean automaker was rumored to be looking into a factory south of the border as far back as 2013.

Nissan GT-R, Armada and the new Kia Sorento | Autoblog Podcast #658

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer for the final episode of 2020. They've been driving some interesting cars, including the Nissan GT-R, the new Nissan Armada, a Mercedes-Benz GLA and a pair of new-gen Kia Sorentos. They talk a bit about an interesting new EV called the Ace from Alpha Motor Corporation. Finally, the trio takes turns talking about their favorite cars they drove this year. Enjoy, and we'll be back with more episodes in 2021. Autoblog Podcast #658 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown What we're driving:2021 Nissan GT-R 2021 Nissan Armada 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA 2021 Kia Sorento Alpha Motor Corporation unveils Ace electric coupe Our favorite cars of the year: Zac: Lotus Evora GT John: Polestar 2 Greg: McLaren GT Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Green Podcasts Kia Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Nissan Coupe Crossover SUV Electric Luxury Performance Sedan Polestar