2021 Hyundai Sonata N Line on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Driving the Aston Martin DBX, Audi SQ5 and Hyundai Palisade | Autoblog Podcast #670

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and Contributing Editor Joe Lorio. First, they talk about driving the Aston Martin DBX, Audi SQ5 and Autoblog's new long-term Hyundai Palisade. They discuss the news, including the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, the BMW i4 and iX, and the Kia EV6. Last, but not least, they dig into the mailbag to help a listener choose a replacement for a long-serving Honda Pilot. Autoblog Podcast #670 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars We're Driving 2021 Aston Martin DBX 2021 Audi SQ5 Long-term 2021 Hyundai Palisade News 2022 Jeep Wagoneer is here: gigantic, luxurious and packing big V8 power BMW EV news BMW Group announces an armada of EVs that includes the full Mini range BMW i4 revealed as the 3 Series' EV sidekick BMW iX xDrive50 isn't just greener on the road, but from the get-go Kia EV6 electric car revealed with curvy sheetmetal Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video: Aston Martin DBX in Stirling Green | On road, off-road and on the track

Hyundai, Genesis, Subaru warn their dealers about markups

Six weeks ago, word got out that Ford's VP of sales for the U.S. and Canada wrote one of those "It has come to our attention..." e-mails to the automaker's dealer body. The VP's problem was dealers trying to get reservation deposits for the Ford F-150 Lightning well above the official $100 fee. The tomfoolery resulted in interactions "with customers in a manner that is negatively impacting customer satisfaction and damaging to the Ford Motor Company brand and Dealer Body reputation." Two weeks later, GM told its dealers to cut out the reservation gaming and the markups on the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, banditry that's been going on for two years. Two weeks ago, Ford was back at it, this time about markups on the Bronco. Last week, Asian automakers swept into the melee, with Hyundai and Genesis, Subaru, and Infiniti writing letters to their dealers to deliver some variant of, "Stop pissing off the customers." Automotive News reported an SVP at Hyundai Motor America and the COO at Genesis Motor North America sent letters to their dealers expressing disappointment at "certain pricing practices which, if left unchecked, will have a negative impact on the health of our brand." One of the practices mentioned was dealer markups, another was the bait-and-switch, with dealers advertising one price then charging a higher price once the customer showed up at the lot. The letters acknowledged that dealers are separate companies to the automakers and have the right to set their own prices. The automakers cannot interfere with that; their leverage is distributing allocations and perks such as advertising support and financial incentives. So, like a movie boss letting the protagonist go on a technicality, the brands wrote, "we cannot stand idly by watching the actions of the aforementioned dealers undo all the efforts we collectively have put into making these brands what they are today." Jalopnik got tipped to a letter Subaru of America CEO Thomas Doll sent to that brand's dealers. Doll's polite yet insistent tone was the result of a letter a loyal Subaru owner sent to the automaker's VP of Customer Advocacy. In the market for a third brand-new Forester, the owner said they encountered a "tax" labeled a "Low Inventory Surcharge" of as much as $6,000, putting the Forester out of reach.

Ioniq Unlimited is Hyundai's way to get Millennials to subscribe to a car

Let's state at the outset that a lot of the questions you're going to have about the new Ioniq Unlimited vehicle subscription program from Hyundai will not be answered in this post. This isn't because we didn't ask - we did - but because Hyundai is holding on to those details until some time after the service starts, which will be some time after the first of the year. If we had to guess, we'll get the information we seek at CES in early January. But, hey, we're getting ahead of ourselves. What is Ioniq Unlimited, anyway? It's a subscription service for the all-electric version of the Ioniq. Available only in California (during the pilot program, anyway), Ioniq Unlimited is an Internet-based way to get yourself a 2017 Ionic Electric. There are no negotiations, just a single price that you pay every month. That price includes all sorts of things: registration and Doc fees, recharging fees, unlimited mileage, and scheduled maintenance. Oh, and there's no down payment. Hyundai vice president of corporate and product planning, Mike O'Brien, told AutoblogGreen that the idea here is to appeal to millennials, who like to keep their transactions simple. Sign once, pay once, be done. Hyundai is trying to, "make car ownership as easy as owning a phone," O'Brien said. Maybe that's why the subscription terms are 24 and 36 months. O'Brien would not say if people could cancel early. As for the price, all he would say is that it will be, "very competitive." Yeah, we want more information, too. Whatever they cost, the subscriptions will be good for Hyundai, too, since the cars will be treated like leased vehicles (and thus owned by Hyundai's captive leasing program) and totally counted in the company's CAFE numbers. We'll have more details, well, whenever Hyundai feels like it's time to share. For more information on Vehicle Subscription Services, check out the Complete Guide. Related Video: