We Finance One Owner Clean Blue Power Cruise Control Usb Wheels Bluetooth Gas on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hyundai: hydrogen cars will gain wider acceptance in 10 years

Hyundai Motor Company said Monday it believes hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the future for eco-friendly cars despite challenges of limited infrastructure and slow sales. South Korea's largest automaker has sold or leased 273 Tucson fuel cell SUVs since beginning production in 2013, mostly in Europe and California. The company had plans to make 1,000 in its first year of production. Kim Sae Hoon, general manager at Hyundai's fuel cell engineering design team, said fuel cell cars represent a bigger opportunity than electric cars because competition is less fierce. Hydrogen-powered cars also give more flexibility to designers, he said. They can be scaled to big vehicles such as buses as well as small cars. They can also be refueled as quickly as gasoline cars while traveling more miles than electric vehicles. The Tucson's European version, called the ix35 Fuel Cell, can travel up to 594 kilometers (369 miles) while its US model travels up to 265 miles (426 kilometers) on one charge on the various government efficiency tests. It emits water vapor and no greenhouse gases. High prices and the dearth of fueling stations are barriers to sales of fuel cell vehicles. Hyundai said it will be another 10 years before hydrogen cars start gaining wider acceptance. In the meantime, sales of eco-friendly cars are dominated by hybrid models such as Toyota's Prius and electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, which are more affordable than fuel cell cars. Hyundai also produces hybrid cars and electric vehicles. It plans to invest 11.3 trillion won ($10 billion) in eco-friendly technology including hybrid cars, electric battery vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells in the four years from 2015. To boost sales, Hyundai slashed the Tucson fuel cell's price in South Korea in February to 85 million won ($76,000) from 150 million won ($134,000). South Korean customers are local government offices as there is no government subsidy for consumers. South Korea's government plans to establish 10 charging stations for fuel cell cars and expects 1,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles will be on the streets in South Korea by 2020. Japan started production of hydrogen-powered cars later than South Korea but such vehicles are experiencing faster growth in Japan with support from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government. Toyota started sales of its Mirai fuel cell sedan in December and has decided to increase production to 3,000 vehicles in 2017, which is quadruple production this year.

2019 Hyundai Kona Electric range officially EPA-rated at 258 miles

Since the Hyundai Kona Electric was first revealed at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, we've been gradually getting closer to learning the exact electric range for the American car. Finally, after a few estimates, the EPA has released its official rating of 258 miles. That's 8 miles higher than Hyundai's estimate for the U.S. car, given a few months ago. This also puts Hyundai in a strong position against the current crop of electric car competition. While the funky Kona does come up short of the long-range, 310-mile Tesla Model 3, that particular Model 3 costs over $40,000, even with the tax incentive that's not long for this world. The Kona Electric will likely start at a lower price point comparable with the fabled short-range, 220-mile Model 3, which is also 38 miles short of the Kona's range. As such, the Chevy Bolt EV is likely the closest competitor, offering 238 miles, 20 short of the Hyundai, and a price of about $30,000, though that's also with a tax credit that will probably be ending soon for Chevrolet. The 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric goes on sale in California and select other states toward the end of this year. More states will be added early next year. This will be a disadvantage for Hyundai, since both the Model 3 and Bolt EV are currently available nationwide. Related Video:

Dodge, Hyundai crowdsourced-funding sites deemed successes

What's not to love about crowdsourcing? This idea, after all, has given us Kickstarter as well Local Motors, but automakers are starting to use the social platform to sell more cars (or just drum up a little PR). Both Dodge and Hyundai have used "crowd-funding" recently, and while Automotive News is reporting that neither has racked up big sales with this gimmick, both automakers are pleased with the attention.
For Hyundai, it teamed up with website Motozuma.com to help customers crowdsource money for a down payment, and the automaker matched this amount up to $500. Last year, this helped Hyundai sell an extra 1,600 units, a fraction of its total 2012 sales. That figure is far larger than Dodge fared with the Dodge Dart Registry - it netted only two sales and a small number of individual options. This registry did help University of Southern California fraternity crowdsource $18,000 to buy a Dart for a local Meals on Wheels, however. Despite the low sales figures, Dodge and Hyundai are considering their crowdsourcing programs a success since it helped them connect with younger buyers.