2001 Kia Sportage Ex Sport Utility 4-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Honda, Hyundai and Kia get best word-of-mouth recommendations in US

Forget advertising, incentives and, yes, even our excellently crafted vehicle reviews, sometimes the best way for automakers to sell cars is still good ol' fashioned word of mouth. In an attempt to measure this "word of mouth" power, The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, has created a new study called the Brand Advocacy Index (BAI). The index takes a look at how various industries perform from person to person. Those industries include automotive, smartphones, grocery, mobile telecommunications and banking.
The study polled more than 32,000 individuals across Europe and in the US to come up with the top 55 brands in these various industries. On the automotive side of things, the top brands in the US were Honda, Hyundai and Kia, all tied at 63 percent. On a global scale, Volkswagen and Toyota scored the highest with a 65-percent BAI rating (both in France). The average BAI for auto industry players tallied 50 percent.
As for companies in other industries, Apple's iPhone was the index's top-rated smartphone, Trader Joe's was the highest recommended grocery store, Virgin was sat atop the mobile telecom industry and USAA was the top retail bank. Scroll down for the full press release on the new study.

Hyundai shutters engine development in shift to electric and hydrogen vehicles

Hyundai is quickly pivoting into an era of electric vehicles. Shortly after announcing it would halve the number of internal combustion models, it launched its first EV on its dedicated Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), the supremely enjoyable Ioniq 5. Now, as The Korea Economic Daily reports, Hyundai Motor Group, which includes sister brand Kia and luxury brand Genesis, has closed its engine development division at its research and development center in South Korea to put those resources into electric powertrain development. According to the report, researchers from engine design are moving to its electrification design center, but a few remain behind to continue to refine existing internal combustion engines. The powertrain system development center will become an electrification test center, and the performance division will focus on electric performance. The group has also established a battery development center, and the R&D Center will also focus on raw materials for batteries and semiconductors. In an email, R&D boss Park Chung-Kook told employees, “Now, it is inevitable to convert into electrification. Our own engine development is a great achievement, but we must change the system to create future innovation based on the great asset from the past.” Hyundai Motor Group is targeting one million EVs a year by 2025, and full electrification by the year 2040. In addition to the newly launched Ioniq 5, Hyundai is planning to launch the Ioniq 6 EV, based on the stunning Prophecy concept, in 2022, and weÂ’ve already seen spy shots of that prototype in testing. That will be followed by the full-size Ioniq 7 SUV in 2024, which was recently previewed by the Seven Concept at the 2021 L.A. Auto Show. Kia is set to launch the EV6 in 2022, and Genesis recently revealed the GV60 electric crossover, both of which will use HyundaiÂ’s E-GMP architecture. Genesis also recently revealed an electric version of the GV70 crossover in China. Of course, Hyundai is also invested in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, both commercial vehicles like its Xcient trucks, and passenger cars like the Nexo and the recently revealed Vision FK concept. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

EPA says it will more closely monitor fuel economy claims from automakers

The unintended acceleration brouhaha at Toyota led to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration tightening the vise on recall procedures. Likewise, the fuel economy kerfuffle that blew up with Hyundai and Kia's admission of overstated fuel mileage claims could lead to the Environmental Protection Agency policing automaker assertions by performing more audits.
At least, that's what a senior engineer with the government agency said while in Michigan giving a talk, according to a report in Automotive News. What that actually means, however, is still in question. Just ten to 15 percent of new vehicles - something like 150 to 200 cars per year - are rested by the EPA to verify automaker numbers. The EPA's own tests include a "fudge factor" to adjust lab mileage for real-world mileage, and the agency still relies on automakers to submit data for tests that it doesn't have the facilities to perform. How much more auditing can the EPA really expect to do, or perhaps a more relevant question would be how much more accurate could the EPA's audits become?
The price of gasoline, the psychological importance of 40 miles per gallon to a frugal car buyer, an automaker wanting to further justify the price premium of a hybrid, all of these things contribute to fuel economy numbers that insist on creeping upward. Perhaps the senior engineer encapsulated the whole situation best when he said, "Everybody wants a label that tells you exactly what you're going to get, but obviously that's not possible. A good general rule of thumb is that real-world fuel economy is about 20 percent lower than the lab numbers." If the lesson isn't exactly 'buyer beware,' it's at least 'buyer be wary.'