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2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo: Introduction

The Hyundai Veloster is indeed an automotive oddball, and that's part of the reason why we're so drawn to it. Even in base form, the Veloster is a cleverly packaged little wonder that's bursting with personality, and with the added grunt and visual aggression of the Turbo model, there's a lot to talk about.
Despite not really fitting into any one specific vehicle segment (unless you dump it into the all-too-vague "compact" class), the Veloster Turbo looks really good on paper, to say nothing of how it looks on the street. It's certainly a head-turner, and we're intrigued by the overall package of an oddly shaped three-door (or four-door?) with some forced induction motivation.
We've had a lot to say about the weird little Hyundai in the past, and we don't see the conversations about this car ending anytime soon. Thus, we've welcomed a matte gray example into the Autoblog long-term garage for one year of testing. This should definitely be interesting.

Hyundai, Kia and U of M studying 'highway hypnosis'

Next up on the hot-button list of things that can kill you behind the wheel: "highway hypnosis." That's the zombie-like, autopilot phase you get into on a long highway drive when there isn't much to distract you, like curves or traffic. Digging further into what it is and how to combat it, Hyundai-Kia engineers and the University of Michigan are commencing a study that will measure brainwave activity in order to track the body's slide into highway hypnosis.
We're not sure how much overlap this has with Mercedes-Benz's Attention Assist, which tracks more than 70 in-car parameters to determine when you're not focused on the road anymore. That system is billed as an alarm against fatigue, in our experience it does more than that - if you use your phone while driving, for instance, it will chirp.
They don't know what form a warning system will take yet, but Hyundai-Kia plans to develop a method for warning drivers when they being to zone out. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than three thousand deaths and nearly 400,000 injuries due to distracted driving in 2011.

Hyundai missing Q1 earnings targets blamed on slow US sales

Slow US growth is hampering profits at Hyundai. In its first quarter financial statement, the Korean automaker reported a profit of 1.93 trillion won ($1.86 billion). According to Reuters, this is less than analysts' expectations and nearly the same as last year.
According to the report, US sales fell by 3 percent in Q1 2014. To make matters worse, the high value of the South Korean currency caused lower profits on models exported from there. On the bright side, Hyundai's Chinese sales rose by 9 percent, according to Reuters. It's also working on building a fourth factory there.
The company has had a rough time in the US throughout the quarter. John Krafcik, the CEO of Hyundai of America, stepped down on January 1, and the company was already predicting slow growth in sales for 2014. Falling quality scores for the Sonata and Elantra aren't helping matters either. However, there may be hope on the way. The second-generation Genesis Sedan was introduced to the US in Detroit, and the redesigned Sonata was recently shown in New York. Successful launches of these important models could prove crucial.