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Hyundai looking to add plant in Mexico

Mexico is rapidly becoming the go-to place for North American auto production, and companies including Toyota, General Motors, and Audi are all building new plants, expanding or shifting some production there. Now, Hyundai is investigating joining them in the future. "I'm sure that over the years we'll see production of Hyundai products in Mexico," Pedro Albarran, managing director for the automaker in Mexico, said to Bloomberg. Albarran indicates that a likely location for such a factory might be the state of Nuevo Leon, where Kia also has a forthcoming $1 billion plant. The site would be an ideal location near suppliers. It's probably going to be a while before any of Hyundai's models start coming out of Mexico. According to Bloomberg, the automaker wants to wait to make a final decision until sales there reach around 50,000 annual units, and that benchmark isn't expected until 2018. While Kia's plant is slated to have a capacity around 300,000 vehicles a year when it opens in 2016, Albarran thinks Hyundai might start smaller at just over 100,000 annual examples. Some of those would likely include subcompact models for the Mexican market. The Korean automaker was rumored to be looking into a factory south of the border as far back as 2013.

2015 Hyundai Tuscon Fuel Cell will lease for $499/month, comes with free hydrogen

If nothing else, Hyundai wants to make it as easy as pie for you to check out its upcoming hydrogen-powered 2015 Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle. Given that the Korean automaker will be the first to offer a mass-produced fuel cell vehicle in the US (sorry, Honda, the FCX Clarity just doesn't cut it for this category) and that the hydrogen-powered Tuscon is coming next spring, there's no time like the present to lower hurdles.
Here's how Hyundai is trying to remove your worries. First, if you want to have an extended test drive, you can go rent a fuel cell Tuscon at participating Enterprise locations, starting next spring. Nothing was said about buying one of these SUVs outright, but after putting $2,999 down, you will be able to lease the H2 Tuscon for $499 a month for 36 months, and that includes "unlimited free hydrogen refueling" and a hydrogen version of the "At Your Service Valet Maintenance." Since there are only ten public hydrogen refueling stations in the US, and nine of them are in California, it makes sense that the Tuscon will be available only in the Golden State, specifically at just four dealerships. Hyundai said in a statement that, "Availability of the Tucson Fuel Cell will expand to other regions of the country consistent with the accelerating deployment of hydrogen refueling stations." In other words, don't hold your breath.
Speaking at the unveiling, Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik praised the hydrogen work that Honda and Toyota are doing here at the show and said, "We think fuel cell technology will increase the adoption rate of zero-emission vehicles, and we'll all share the environmental benefits." In the Tuscon, that means an estimated 300-mile range and a refill time of under 10 minutes along with the instant torque of an electric motor. We'll be most interested to see how that plays out in the marketplace. Feel free to read more in the press release below.

Hyundai Kia asked to pay $28.9M in patent infringement case

After years of litigation, Hyundai and Kia have lost their hybrid technology patent infringement case against Paice LLC. The jury ordered the South Korean automakers to pay $28.9 million, but according to Bloomberg, because the violation was allegedly intentional, the judge could triple that amount. The automakers have announced plans to appeal the ruling. Paice's patent dates from 1994 on a piece of tech called the Hyperdrive, and it was a way to seamlessly switch between power from an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. This lawsuit was first filed in 2012 and covered the systems in the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and Kia Optima Hybrid. According to Bloomberg, the companies tried to argue that the patent was no longer valid, but the strategy failed. "Hyundai strongly believes its position and will appeal any remaining adverse findings to the Federal Circuit," the company said in a statement to Autoblog. Paice is certainly no stranger to litigating over the Hyperdrive patent, though. It and Toyota had a similar court battle that lasted years. Eventually, there was a settlement, and the result was Paice getting royalties for each hybrid that the Japanese automaker sold. Similarly, there's a lawsuit pending against Ford over tech in the C-Max, Fusion, and Lincoln MKZ. Hyundai Statement: Hyundai believes that the verdict returned by the jury today in the matter of Paice v. Hyundai Motor Company et al., is not supported by the evidence. Accordingly, Hyundai has requested that the presiding judge enter a judgment in its favor notwithstanding the verdict. Hyundai strongly believes its position and will appeal any remaining adverse findings to the Federal Circuit.