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Hyundai, union reach tentative labor deal

According to Reuters, South Korea's labor unions may have reached a tentative deal with Hyundai following a compromise between the two sides on wages. Workers have staged a number of stoppages since August 20, which have cost the South Korean giant 1.02 trillion won - around $1.1B US. It also represents just over 50,000 units of production. That vehicle total sounds like a lot, but it's a small enough figure that Hyundai can apparently catch up with weekend and overtime shifts. We'd wager that this is why US inventories haven't been hit quite so hard aside from the battering already taking place. The proposal will now go before the union's rank and file.
If ratified, the new agreement will see workers getting a 5.14-percent raise in base salaries, along with 8.5-million-won (roughly $7,800) bonuses. Those concessions are a far cry compared to what the union was initially demanding, though. Early proposals included a 56.25-gram gold medal for each employee (worth about $2,400) and a 10-million won bonus (about $9,100) for employees whose children chose not to attend college. The union also sought a bonus worth two months' salary for workers that have been with the company for over 40 years, but this was negotiated down to a flat rate of six-million won ($5,464).
Based on Reuters' report, the work stoppages must have taken a real toll on Hyundai - its domestic sales dropped 20 percent last month, while exports were down nine percent. Those startling figures must have put some fire under the Hyundai bargaining team.

Hyundai Kona EV recalled in Korea after suspected battery flaw causes fires

SEOUL — Hyundai will voluntarily recall Kona full-electric vehicles because a possible short circuit due to faulty manufacturing of its high-voltage battery cells could pose a fire risk. The recall involves 25,564 Kona EVs built between September 2017 and March 2020, South Korea's transport ministry said on Thursday. It starts on Oct. 16 and  includes software updates and battery replacements after inspections. In total, 13 incidents of fire involving the Kona EV, including one each in Canada and Austria, were documented so far, according to a statement by ruling party lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae's office on Thursday. The safety recall "is a proactive response to a suspected defective production of high-voltage batteries used in the vehicles, which may have contributed to the reported fires," Hyundai said. The automaker said it will deploy all necessary measures to identify the cause of the fires and address customers' needs. Kona EVs use batteries made by LG Chem. LG Chem said the exact cause of the fire had not been determined and a reenactment experiment conducted jointly with Hyundai had not led to a fire, so the fires could not be attributed to faulty battery cells. LG Chem added that it will participate in a future investigation with Hyundai to find the cause. In July, Hyundai Motor leader Euisun Chung said Hyundai and sister company Kia aim to sell 1 million full-electric vehicles in 2025, targeting more than 10 percent of the global market share for such vehicles. The Kona is Hyundai brand's best-selling model in Europe. Kona sales in the region rose 1.9 percent to 70,380 in the first eight months, including combustion engine versions, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers.  

Hyundai partners with tech startup Smartcar to expand mobility apps

A new technology partnership between Hyundai and a Silicon Valley startup will expand the automaker's connected-car service offerings on its 2018 model-year vehicles, making it possible for owners to do everything from getting their car washed and detailed to fueling up, all without having to actually be there for it. Hyundai announced the partnership with technology startup Smartcar (not to be confused with the automaker) at the L.A. Auto Show to launch its Blue Link All-Access program. The platform aims to give Hyundai owners access to a broad array of new third-party connected-car applications, similar to how users download apps for mobile devices, by giving Smartcar access to its API. That means the automaker can offer new services more quickly, since it won't have to do a separate new integration for every new connected-car service, said Manish Mehrotra, Hyundai Motor America's director of digital business planning and connected operations. "We will develop Blue Link not as standalone system, but as an open platform that can seamlessly integrate the best ideas from inside and outside the company," Mehrotra said. App developers will work with Smartcar, based in Mountain View, Calif., as the single point of integration. Hyundai's Blue Link platform already had allowed owners to do things like sync addresses from their phones to their in-vehicle navigation systems via voice command, start and warm up the car remotely, and locate the vehicle when the driver forgets where he parked it. The new service will be offered on every 2018 model-year Hyundai free of charge for the first three years of ownership. Hyundai also announced a new pilot program in Southern California with an Orange County startup called Washos, which offers mobile car washing and detailing. Other time-saving existing or future applications include being able to get your dry cleaning or groceries delivered to your car while at work. Because the future is going to be BUSY. As further evidence of what he called "our deepening relationships with the technology community," Mehrotra also discussed the recent launch of Cradle, Hyundai's new venture-capital arm.