2020 Kia Soul Lx on 2040-cars

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U.S. VP Harris pledges to consult S. Korea over EV subsidy concerns

TOKYO/SEOUL — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told South Korea's prime minister on Tuesday that Washington will work to address Seoul's concerns over recently enacted electric vehicle (EV) subsidies that could disadvantage Asian automakers. The $430 billion "Inflation Reduction Act" bill enacted in August includes a host of U.S. President Joe Biden's priorities, including investments to roll back climate change and make Washington a world leader in the EV market. Among the law's provisions are requirements that EVs be assembled in North America to qualify for tax credits. The law also ends subsidies for other EV models and requires that a percentage of critical minerals used in those cars' batteries come from the United States or an American free-trade partner. Harris, visiting Japan, met with South Korea's Han Duck-soo and "underscored that she understood (Korean) concerns regarding the Act's tax incentives for electric vehicles, and they pledged to continue to consult as the law is implemented," the White House said. A senior Biden administration official said extensive conversations have already taken place within the U.S. government over how to address South Korea's concerns. "She listened very carefully and made clear our commitment to work within the U.S. government — the U.S. Trade Representative, the Treasury Department — as we look ... to help address that issue," the official said. Biden has sought to deepen business with South Korea as part of a bid to increase U.S. manufacturing jobs and build a united front against China, who he views as the country's key ideological and economic competitor. Korean officials see the new requirements as a betrayal after South Korean companies agreed to make major investments and build factories in the United States. Heavily industrialized South Korea worries the new subsidies will set back Hyundai Motor Co and its affiliate Kia Corp in the world's largest consumer market. Cars are South Korea's third-largest export. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Tokyo, and Soo-hyang Choi and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Kim Coghill) Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Government/Legal Green Plants/Manufacturing Genesis Hyundai Kia Electric South Korea

The anti-Prius | 2017 Kia Niro Hybrid First Drive

The 2017 Kia Niro is a significant model for the brand. It's the company's first car designed from the get-go to be a hybrid. And as Kia's VP of product planning explains, it's helping lead the company's push to improve fuel economy by 25 percent across the board. So it's kind of funny that almost everything about this car reads as "conventional" or simply "normal." There are exceptions to this. Under the attractive – if not adventurous – skin is some interesting technology. Most of the mechanicals are shared with the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq, including the direct-injected 1.6-liter inline-four and electric motor that send power to the front wheels. The powertrain makes a combined 139 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. Kia also implemented various aerodynamic and weight aids to make the most of the engine and motor. The Niro features air curtains, a rear spoiler, and active air shutters to help achieve a 0.29 coefficient of drag, and the hood, hatch, brake calipers, and some suspension components are all made of aluminum. Plus, when ordered with navigation, the Niro will provide tips on driving more efficiently, and will use topographical information to use electric power in the most efficient manner. The various bits of fuel-maximizing technology mean the Niro manages Prius-like fuel economy ratings of 52 mpg in the city, 49 on the highway, and 50 combined. That's only for the base FE model, though. Moving up to the slightly better-equipped LX and EX models yields a small decrease to 51 city, 46 highway, and 49 overall. If you opt for the Touring model, shown here, because you want all the bells and whistles, be ready to sacrifice more mileage – it only manages 46 city, 40 highway, and 43 overall. Kia says this is due to the increased weight of the standard features, different roof rails that change the aerodynamic profile, and the larger, wider 18-inch wheels and tires that increase the rotational mass and rolling resistance. All of the effort Kia put into making the Niro a highly efficient Prius fighter seems to have been matched by an effort to make the car appear as normal as possible and give it the broadest appeal. So, no polarizing looks like on the latest Prius and Prius Prime. Glancing at it, you'd say the Niro is just another crossover. The greenhouse looks like a scaled-down version of the Sorento's. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since the larger Kia crossover is fairly handsome.

A verified hit, Kia Soul EV will come to new markets

Today at the Chicago Auto Show, Kia introduced a new off-road Trailster plug-in concept, but the real-world news was all about how the Soul EV will be traveling to places it hasn't gone before. When Kia introduced the Soul EV in Chicago last year, it said that the car would some day be available in five states: California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. Today, company executives said the car will be coming to more markets – they just declined to mention where, exactly. The Soul EV is currently sold in just 17 dealerships in California, Orth Hedrick, vice president of product planning at Kia Motors America, told AutoblogGreen. "For the next stage, we were originally planning on hitting the east coast, but we are changing that around a little bit. You'll see more availability," he said. Hedrick said that the change was prompted by the simple fact that the Soul is attracting new customers. "We went back to the factory and told them it's doing very well and it's now expanded beyond an EV, it's something bigger," he said. "It's helping us get a dialogue with completely new, different customer that we normally wouldn't see in a Kia store. So we would like the opportunity to take it further." We asked if customer interest in the compliance car caught the company off guard. Hedrick said that wasn't quite the right way to look at the history of the Soul EV. "When we looked at it originally, we were trying to go beyond the compliance part," he said. "We understood, of course, that we had to do it, but we wanted to showcase something that was really strong for us, which is the Soul, and we thought it would help build out the Soul family and bring more people to see us and that's exactly what's happening. It was a little more than compliance but I think we were kind of shocked how well it was received. It's been a huge hit." "Huge" in this case means bigger than Kia's original production capacity estimates, he said, without getting into specifics. It was "significantly more than what we originally planned for," he said. The Soul EV is built in Korea and the car is sold there, the US and will be coming to Europe as well. "I don't think they're in a position to ramp up quickly," Hedrick said, "They're in the process of ramping up more and we'll have an announcement, we hope, by New York, about where we're going to go to." The New York Auto Show media days start April 1, 2015.