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Hyundai appoints William Lee as global head of Genesis

SEOUL — Hyundai on Tuesday named its former North American chief, William Lee, to oversee its premium Genesis brand following the departure of Manfred Fitzgerald to pursue new opportunities. Lee faces the challenge of rejuvenating Genesis sales in the U.S. market and making headway in Europe and China, both tough markets to crack for luxury car sales. "The company expects Mr. Lee, in his new capacity, to lead the brand's further global expansion by leveraging his overseas business operations expertise," Hyundai said in a statement. "North America is an imperative market for the Genesis brand," it added. The news follows the appointment this month of Mark Del Rosso, a former president of Audi America, to oversee Genesis operations in North America. Genesis U.S. sales halved to 10,312 last year, although sales have picked up this year. The United States is the biggest overseas market for Genesis, which generated 72% of its sales in South Korea last year. Before his stint at Hyundai Motor North America, Lee oversaw Hyundai's Brazil operations and the U.S. unit of advertising arm Innocean Worldwide. Hyundai said in a recent earnings conference call that it has set up Genesis sales operations for China and Europe. Hyundai Motor Group's heir apparent Euisun Chung introduced the Genesis brand in November 2015, bringing in Fitzgerald, a former Lamborghini executive, a few months later to help the automaker shed its value for money image. Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Genesis Hyundai Luxury

Hyundai shows off six custom creations in Vegas

Hyundai rolled in to SEMA this year with an array of six customized vehicles. And while it previewed several members of that lineup in the run up to the tuner expo, it has now brought them all together under one roof – namely that of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The fleet consists of three custom creations based on the Tucson crossover, two on the Genesis Coupe, and one on the Veloster. The Tucson lineup includes one by Bisimoto, another by John Pangilinan, and a third by Rockstar Performance Garage. In typical style, Bisimoto cranked the crossover up past 700 horsepower, thanks to a high-boost turbocharger running on flex fuel. Pangilinan crafted his JP Edition Tuscon for off-road adventure with a pop-up tent on the roof, brush guards, and a lifted suspension. And Rockstar went with a Baja-style off-road competition approach with a massive 6-inch lift kit and 32-inch tires. The Genesis Coupes include one by ARK Performance and another by TJIN. The former is dubbed the Solus edition, adopting a dual focus on performance and luxury with a wide body kit, carbon-fiber trim and a supercharged V6 stroked out to 4.0 liters to produce over 500 horsepower. The TJIN edition also ups the output past 500 horses with a supercharger from Bisimoto, plus a free-flowing exhaust, intercooler, and blow-off valve. KW coilover suspension, custom body kit, and green paint job finish it off. Finally, there's the Veloster Turbo R-Spec done up by Blood Type Racing with a black paint job, red racing stripe, carbon-fiber wide-body kit, and a 1.6-liter turbo four boosted up to – you guessed it – over 500 hp. Check out five of them together (sans the Bisimoto) in the slideshow above, or each of the six in the individual galleries at bottom for a closer look - along with the details in the press release below. Related Video: HYUNDAI'S 2015 SEMA LINEUP FEATURES SIX VEHICLES BUILT BY THE INDUSTRY'S BEST TUNERS Concepts Based on 2016 Tucson, 2015 Genesis Coupe and 2015 Veloster Turbo R-Spec FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Nov. 3, 2015 – Once again, Hyundai has teamed up with some of the best vehicle tuners in the automotive community to deliver six concept vehicles for SEMA 2015. This year's builds feature three of Hyundai's all-new 2016 Tucson crossovers, two high-powered Genesis Coupes, and a Veloster Turbo R-Spec. Hyundai will be showcasing these creations at its SEMA display in Center Hall (booth #24387) at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Nov. 3-6, 2015.

US expands probe into ZF-TRW airbag failure-to-deploy to 12.3 million vehicles

DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators have expanded an investigation into malfunctioning airbag controls to include 12.3 million vehicles because the bags may not inflate in a crash. The problem could be responsible for as many as eight deaths. Vehicles made by Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Fiat Chrysler from the 2010 through 2019 model years are included in the probe, which was revealed Tuesday in documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It involves airbag control units made by ZF-TRW that were installed in the vehicles. The control units can fail in a crash, possibly because of unwanted electrical signals produced by the crash itself that can disable an air bag control circuit housed in the passenger compartment, according to NHTSA documents. The electrical signals can damage the control circuit, the documents say. ZF, a German auto parts maker which acquired TRW Automotive in 2015, said in a statement that it's committed to safety and is cooperating with NHTSA and automakers in the investigation. The case is another in a long list of problems with auto industry airbags, including faulty and potentially deadly Takata airbag inflators. At least 24 people have been killed worldwide and more than 200 injured by the inflators, which can explode with too much force and hurl dangerous shrapnel into the passenger cabin. The inflators touched off the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history involving with as many as 70 million inflators to be recalled by the end of next year. About 100 million inflators are to be recalled worldwide. On April 19, NHTSA upgraded the ZF-TRW probe from a preliminary evaluation to an engineering analysis, which is a step closer toward seeking recalls. So far, only Hyundai and Kia and Fiat Chrysler have issued recalls in the case. Four deaths that may have been caused by the problem were reported in Hyundai-Kia vehicles and three in Fiat Chrysler automobiles. NHTSA opened an investigation in March of 2017 involving the TRW parts in Hyundais and Kias. The upgrade came after investigators found two recent serious crashes involving 2018 and 2019 Toyota Corollas in which the airbags did not inflate. One person was killed. Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit consumer group, said the ZF-TRW case shows the auto industry thus far has learned very little from Takata.