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Hyundai outlines EV strategy as it struggles with cost of engine defects

SEOUL — South Korea's Hyundai Motor pledged to boost sales of electric vehicles to over half a million by 2025 as part of a bid to focus on new technologies and catch up with rivals, but some analysts saw the target as conservative and warned of the costs. The announcement by Hyundai, the world's fifth largest car maker along with affiliate Kia Motors, underscores the accelerating strategy shift under Euisun Chung, who became the motor group's executive vice chairman last year. Hyundai announced a $35 billion investment last week in mobility and other auto technologies by 2025, less than a month after unveiling a $1.6 billion deal to develop self-driving vehicle technologies with Aptiv. The firm said on Thursday it plans to launch 16 EV models by 2025 to boost sales of such vehicles 17-fold to 560,000 by that year. Still, that would be equivalent to just over 10% of its projected global sales this year. The projection compares with more bullish forecasts offered by its bigger rivals. Volkswagen AG expects to make 22 million EVs over the next decade, while General Motors aims to sell 1 million EVs annually by 2026. "That is not an ambitious target. If Hyundai fails to boost volumes fast enough, costs of electric cars will weigh on profitability," Lee Jae-il, an analyst at Eugene Securities & Investment. Hyundai said that the EV market would face intensifying competition and oversupply soon and automakers failing to meet toughening European emissions regulations will face heavy penalties and suffer a serious blow to their reputation. "EV supply is expected to surpass demand from the second half of next year," Ka Suk-hyun, vice president of Hyundai Motor, told an earnings conference call. Quality issues Hyundai's third-quarter net profit rose 59% to 427 billion won ($365 million), well below the average 684 billion profit estimate of analysts based on Refinitiv data, due to 600 billion won provisions it earmarked to address potential engine defects in the United States and South Korea. Quality issues have been a major drag in Hyundai's attempt to steer a recovery from six consecutive annual profit declines and constrained its financial firepower to invest in future technologies. It is still under investigation by U.S regulators and prosecutors over potential faulty engines in some models. Total retail sales fell 3% in the third quarter, as higher U.S.

2020 Hyundai Palisade Preview Drive | The bigger they come

SEOUL — Hyundai can build big, spectacular things. In 2014 it created the CSCL Globe, the world's largest container ship at the time. With a 77,200-hp two-stroke engine and a deck the size of four soccer fields, it can deliver 19,000 shipping containers anywhere in the world. By comparison, the new 2020 Hyundai Palisade isn't all that large — but it will soon become the brand's biggest and most powerful SUV ever. About the size of the Ford Explorer and the popular Honda Pilot, the Palisade is already on sale in South Korea, where it is assembled at Hyundai's massive plant in Ulsan alongside the Tucson, Ioniq and Veloster. But the replacement for the Santa Fe XL won't hit Hyundai's American dealerships until summer 2019. It's part of an SUV onslaught by the automaker, which has just introduced the smaller Kona and Santa Fe models. And Hyundai says there's more to come. Unlike the Ford Explorer, which will soon return to a traditional rear-wheel drive architecture, the 2020 Hyundai Palisade uses a new front-wheel drive chassis it will share with the coming Kia Telluride. The SUV is 3 inches longer, about 3.5 inches wider and over 2 inches taller than the Santa Fe XL, and its wheelbase has grown 4 inches. That matches the Nissan Pathfinder at 114.2 inches, and outstretches the Explorer, Pilot and Toyota Highlander. However, the Chevy Traverse and Buick Enclave share a 120.9-inch wheelbase, and at 204.3 inches long they've got 8 inches of length on the Palisade. Despite all that size, the Palisade doesn't feel like a container ship from behind its leather-wrapped steering wheel. After two cold snowy days driving Korean-market spec Palisades around northern South Korea, both on and off road, we flew home to California impressed by the SUV's dynamics, packaging and comfort. Inside, the Palisade's front seats are firm with significant bolstering, and the seating position is perfect. Hyundai has gotten the details right, even carving the SUV's A-pillars extra thin to better your forward view. Fit and finish are impressive, coming close to Genesis levels with our test car's quilted Nappa leather, suede headliner and knurled knobs. Its pale striped wood trim, although fake, pulls off the yacht feel SangYup Lee, Hyundai's Head of Global Design, says he was going for. By the way, before joining Hyundai, Lee was the lead designer at Bentley, where he created that company's first SUV, the Bentayga.

Hyundai returns to flashier design with 2018 Sonata

Compared to the stylistic achievement of the 2009 Hyundai Sonata, many observers viewed the redesigned 2015 Sonata as a step backward. To right the ship, Hyundai tasked its North American Design Center with restoring some razzle-dazzle to the brand's midsize contender for 2018. The creative team made changes throughout, the biggest development being the "cascading grille" at the front, cribbed from the Elantra. The Sonata Sport 2.0T grille gets a silver mesh treatment and vertical LED DRLs tucked in the triangular bumper vents at the corners. The other models wear chrome bars inside the grille, with vertical and horizontal LED DRLs at the corners. Slimmer headlights stretch around the front edges, with the hood sporting deeper chiseled surfaces to emphasize the injection of style. In back, instead of the hint of a spoiler on the current sedan, the 2018 Sonata's deck lid ends in a pronounced flick above a sharp taper into the rear valance. The license-plate holder moves down to the reshaped bumper so that the larger, flatter trunk face can fit much larger badging. The trunk release button hides inside the Flying H emblem, and wedge-shaped taillights glow with the same alien-script pattern familiar from the Elantra. Down below, non-Sport models get a single, trapezoidal exhaust tip, but the Sport 2.0T gets two such exhaust tips, paired with new Michelin tires and a flat-bottomed steering wheel. Engines don't change, but buyers who choose the 2.0-liter four-cylinder get an eight-speed automatic transmission that adds a cog at the low end and another at the high end. The rest of the lineup sticks with the present six-speed auto. Handling upgrades include 12-percent thicker torsion bars in the steering system and new steering calibration for better on-center feel and responsiveness, plus 21-percent thicker trailing arms and new bushings in the suspension for faster response and more compliance. Inside, a reworked center console holds steady with a seven-inch touchscreen. Interior designers gave the new HVAC and audio controls a silkier finish and contrasting "piano key" buttons. A second-row USB port serves back-seaters, and the options list will include a Qi wireless charging pad for those in front. The 2018 Sonata introduces a navigation bird's-eye view, free traffic data, standard blind-spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert, and a new lane departure warning system as some of the convenience and safety highlights.