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Adventures in lazy badge engineering | Autoblog Podcast #505

On this week's podcast, Mike Austin joins David Gluckman to look back at some of the less labor-intensive badge engineering the industry has seen over the years. They also recap what they've all been driving lately, and the episode wraps up with Spend My Money buying advice to help you, our dear listeners. Also, in honor of episode 505, here is a picture of a Peugeot 505. The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want buying advice of your very own, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. (If you record audio of a question with your phone and get it to us, you could hear your very own voice on the podcast. Neat, right?) And if you have other questions or comments, please send those too. Autoblog Podcast #505 The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics and stories we mention Kia Sportage Kia Niro Volkswagen Golf Audi A4 Used cars! Rundown Intro - 00:00 What we're driving - 01:31 Badge-engineering fun - 20:54 Spend My Money - 33:41 Total Duration: 1:07:57 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 Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show on iTunes Podcasts Audi Kia Volkswagen Crossover Hatchback SUV Wagon Sedan kia sportage kia niro

Genesis' decision to build the Electrified GV70 in America is a sign of things to come

As Steely Dan famously sang, they call Alabama the Crimson Tide. Here in Montgomery, we’re knee-deep in a Green Tide thatÂ’s transforming the business of building and selling cars. The high-style Genesis Electrified GV70 emerging from Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) is the first Genesis built outside South Korea. ItÂ’s only the second made-in-America EV from a foreign-based automaker, after the Volkswagen ID.4 whose Tennessee production kicked off in July.  Get ready for many more. Spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act — whose final interpretations and outcomes remain in Washingtonian flux — automakers foreign and domestic are scrambling to onshore EV-and-battery production to boost American jobs and security, as a condition to securing lucrative tax incentives for manufacturers and consumers. Beginning in 2024, qualifying for EV credits may even require sourcing a hefty percentage of minerals and other battery materials from America or approved trade partners, a list that conspicuously does not include China or Russia. As things stand, that sticking point could make a vast number of 2024 EVs ineligible for purchase credits; though leasing a vehicle may still earn dealers a $7,500 commercial credit that they could pass along to consumers, as most currently do for EV lessees.  The electric version of GenesisÂ’ most-popular SUV is the avatar of Hyundai MotorÂ’s $10 billion American EV investment, which is expected to foster up to 8,000 good-paying jobs. Even thatÂ’s a fraction of what Atlas Public Policy estimates to be $128 billion in industry-wide investment in AmericaÂ’s EV, battery and recycling capacity through 2030 alone. HyundaiÂ’s planned onshore footprint includes a new battery factory northwest of Atlanta, and a $5.5 billion EV factory near Savannah that aims to produce Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs beginning in 2025. Beginning that year, Genesis says every new model introduced will be an EV, with no fossil-fuel option. And Genesis plans to phase out gasoline-powered models entirely by 2030, a similar timeline to luxury brands including Volvo and Cadillac. In Alabama, where Hyundai also builds the Elantra, Sonata, Santa Fe and Santa Cruz, an Electrified GV70 is hoisted onto a lift for the final stop on its 16-hour assembly journey.

Dealership worker takes Kia Soul for 200-mile joyride

Most often, dealership road-test capers in customer cars involve exciting metal - an employee totals a Chevy Camaro ZL1, or a does the same thing with a Dodge Viper. Or tapes himself wringing out Italian exotics at triple-digit speeds on public roads. That kind of horseplay rarely involves mass-market metal because it's not worth getting caught running red lights in a 2001 Mitsubishi Montero - except that actually happened, too. But we still don't understand the mechanic at Peak Kia North in Windor, CO, who used a customer's Kia Soul as his own car for four days and put 200 miles on it. Owner Veronica Pief discovered the nonsense when she downloaded the 17 hours of driving video from her dashcam. She dropped the Soul off to have its speed-volume control fixed, but got it back with the extra mileage and the volume problem still hadn't been remedied. It got worse when she said of the dealership, "Afterwards, they just blew us off. They didn't care. They didn't show any concern." Sometime between that disrespect and Denver's KUSA 9NEWS doing a story on it, the dealer decided it should fix the situation. Pief said she wanted the dealer to buy her car back and pay off the loan, which sounds extreme, but she might have been thinking about the verbiage in her owner's manual. Kia is one of the automakers that's strict about voiding warranties if it deems a car has been abused. Peak Kia North gave Pief what she wanted just one day after the original story ran, buying the car back from her with plans to auction it and donate the proceeds to charity. And yes, the mechanic was fired. You can watch the local news report above. Related Video: News Source: Detroit Free Press, 9NEWS Auto News Kia Car Dealers Hatchback Videos viral video colorado