2013 Hyundai Elantra Gls on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Hyundai Tucson shows off its European trim ahead of Geneva

Hyundai is unleashing the first details about its next-generation Tucson ahead of the crossover's official debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show on March 3. So far, the Korean automaker is only talking about European specifications for the latest model that goes on sale in the second half of 2015 there. Still, this glimpse should give a good idea of what to expect from the future version inevitably coming to the US. The new Tucson largely blends the look of the current Santa Fe and last year's Intrado concept into a more angular, rugged CUV than the current model. As in the earlier teaser video, Hyundai's designers gave the latest generation horizontal, chrome-accented slats in the hexagonal grille to match the look of the other recent members in the lineup. The hood also takes on the somewhat flatter design from the Santa Fe, but the lower air dam wears an eye-catching mix of intakes, foglights and LEDs. In profile, there's a distinctive crease down the side, and the wheel wells subtly reinterpret the squared-off look from the Intrado. Inside, Hyundai claims that it focuses on improving material quality, and it's offering an attractive new Wine Red leather interior with black contrast to European buyers. There are also available heated and ventilated seats, and a faster infotainment system. The company is upping the safety assists too with features like Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Keeping Assist, Blind Spot Detection and more. These European models are made in the Czech Republic and offer quite an array of powertrain options. The gasoline choices are either a naturally aspirated 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 133 horsepower or turbo 1.6-liter mill with 174 hp. Diesel selections include a 1.7-liter with 113 hp, 2.0-liter with 134 hp or another tune with 182 hp. Transmission possibilities are either a six-speed manual or automatic, but the 1.6-liter turbo is available with a seven-speed dual clutch. North America will likely get its own drivetrain mix, though. Hyundai didn't release too many shots of the new Tucson. But we'll have live images from the Swiss show floor in a few weeks time.

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.

Hyundai analyzes 12 trends that will shape the world of 2030

Hyundai announced this year the start of Project Ioniq, its attempt at figuring out what the world of 2030 will be like. Of course the project would also use that information to determine how that world will affect the transportation industry. And it happens to share its name with the company's newest eco-friendly model. The first part of Project Ioniq is under way with the Ioniq Lab. This lab will be run by Dr. Soon Jong Lee, a professor at Seoul National University. Lee is also in charge of the Korea Future Design and Research Institute, and ten researchers and ten consultant experts will assist him on the project. Phase one has now yielded what Hyundai sees as 12 "megatrends" that will affect how the world changes and develops in 2030. This will in turn affect what people are looking for as far as transportation and mobility, and may inform what technologies and segments Hyundai invests in the future. The 12 megatrends are as follows: Hyper-connected Society Hyper-aging Society Eco-ism Multi-Layered Mash-up Context-awareness-based Individualization High Concept Society Decentralization of Power Anxiety and Chaos Sharing Society Co-evolution Mega-urbanization Neo-frontierism The team has detailed descriptions of each megatrend, and they are interesting, but we'll try to sum up all twelve of them for you here. If you want to check out all the details, be sure to check out the press release at this link. Overall, we're looking at a world where there are many more old people, and a large majority of the population will live in urban areas. Not everyone will live in urban areas, and some people may have new living opportunities because of advancements in aerospace and aquatic engineering. It will be a much more diverse world as well that we will be even more connected with, sharing information more and more. This will make understanding what people share and how they do so vital. Society will also start sharing everything much more, something akin to Uber and ZipCar today, but expanded. Companies will be looking to combine technologies and collaborate more to be involved in a wider array of businesses. The environment as well as cyber crimes and terrorism will remain ever-present issues. We will also see the development of significantly more capable robots and artificial intelligence.