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Hyundai and Kia adding Google Maps API to nav systems

Hyundai's Blue Link and Kia's UVO infotainment systems will be adding three Google features: Send2Car, Point of Interest Search and Local Search by Voice. Send2Car lets travelers send destinations to their vehicle's navigation system from a computer or via a mobile phone app, and the POI and local searches are continuously updated in Google Places' database. The new data service integrations mean that drivers will have more access to more destinations and be able to find them more quickly.
Hyundai hasn't said when the new features will debut nor on what model. Kia buyers will find them introduced on the 2014 Kia Sorento expected to roll into dealerships shortly, with the Forte sedan following. You'll find a press release on the updates below.

2014 Kia Cee'd GT

Kia may be an automaker with a lot going for it these days, but it's not yet one that takes pains to appeal to performance enthusiasts. Aside from its Pirelli World Challenge team, it doesn't support any major racing programs to speak of. And despite having showcased such concepts as the GT4 Stinger and the Provo, it doesn't really offer much in the way of performance models.
That is, at least not in North America. But at the Geneva Motor Show last year, Kia got itself into the Euro hot hatch game with the launch of the Cee'd GT (and its three-door compatriot, the Pro_Cee'd GT). It's based on the Korean automaker's European-market Volkswagen Golf rival that's now in its second generation and which, in its previous base iteration, served as the Reasonably Priced Car that celebrity guests drove on Top Gear before it was replaced by a Vauxhall Astra. Now with a GT moniker attached, the Cee'd has warmed up to the point that it'd potentially be better suited towards a proper romp down twisting B-roads than serving as a celebrity punching bag.
Since Kia's first genuine performance model (like the model upon which it's based) isn't offered Stateside, we jumped at the opportunity to drive it while on a recent trip to the UK. Read on to see what we found.

Kia calls reports of second US plant 'groundless'

In discussing how Kia planned to use a focus on quality to raise its brand perception and take the fight to BMW and Audi instead of Toyota, a recent article in Automotive News Europe said one of the primary constraints was production capacity; Kia simply doesn't have the ability to make enough cars to meet its aims with the plants it has.
The CEO of Hyundai-Kia is said to be reluctant to build more plants because of that focus on quality and the fact that its suppliers are stretched to the limit. The effects of that position are being felt right now with both makers losing market share, as in the case of Hyundai not being able to make enough of its Veloster Turbo for the US market.
A South Korean newspaper apparently reported last week that Kia was planning to build a second factory in Georgia with capacity for up to 150,000 units annually, and that the company would break ground as soon as this month on "KMMG2." Kia has responded to the news by saying, "The report is all groundless." The mayor of West Point, site of the current KMMG plant, said he didn't know anything about such plans, nor did the Georgia department of economic development have knowledge of a new Kia factory.