2017 Hyundai Elantra Value Edition on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Heads up: Hyundai mostly reveals the Kona crossover

Hyundai is set to reveal its new Kona crossover to take on other funky compacts like the Kia Soul, Nissan Juke, and Toyota C-HR. But before it fully reveals the car, the company has mostly revealed the car in the form of new images and a teaser trailer. The photos show us both three-quarter shots from the front and the back, and the car is surprisingly well-lit. These photos give us our best look yet at the mean-looking split headlights of the Kona, as well as its iteration of Hyundai's corporate grille and upper scoop. The aggressive front end is matched by bulging fenders, thick black fender flares, and a deep, sculpted character line running down the side of the car. It looks like the Kona will also have a trendy contrasting roof, too. The aggressive front and sides come to a somewhat underwhelming conclusion at the back. The rear hatch looks like fairly generic Hyundai. But it does appear to be bolstered by some chunky-looking rear reflectors that house the reverse lamps. Those reflectors also appear to be surrounded by the same black material the fender flares are made of. The rear bumper, which is one of the few things that isn't visible, will likely also look fairly tough and rugged. The teaser trailer shown below doesn't reveal quite as much of the Kona, but it does highlight a feature of which Hyundai is rather proud: the heads-up display. It's the first heads-up display used on a Hyundai product, and it uses a pop-up panel onto which information is displayed. It works pretty much like the displays used by Mazda and Mini. So it isn't anything particularly remarkable, but the availability of a heads-up display is always nice, and the color projection does look attractive. Look for more details and the full reveal of the Kona later this summer.

2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo: February 2013

I just couldn't bring myself to lead this post with the image you see on the right. The winter months have not been kind to our matte gray 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo, and since you can't just run the thing through your local car wash, our oddly shaped little hatchback has spent more days dirty than clean. It breaks my fleet manager heart to see one of our test cars covered in schmutz so frequently, but let's be honest - the last thing anyone wants to do when it's 12 degrees Fahrenheit outside is play with a hose and spend a good amount of time hand-washing a car.
Moral of the story: If you live in a cold-weather state where you expect to get regular doses of the white stuff, matte paint probably isn't for you. Not to worry, though, as the Veloster Turbo is offered in plenty of pretty, car wash-friendly colors.
We'll have a lot more to talk about regarding the Veloster's cleanability in forthcoming updates, and we're even planning a trip to the Dr. Beasley's office - the company that created the special matte paint detailing kit for the Hyundai - to have their experts show us how it's done. For now, let's spend some time talking about what we've learned about the turbocharged hatch during its honeymoon phase here in the Autoblog Garage.

Hyundai, Kia ratchet up fleet sales as retail transactions slide

Automotive News reports both Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales in an attempt to offset disappointing first quarter results. The Korean automakers saw their sales decline by nine percent compared to last year, while all major competitors managed to increase their sales. That situation marks an inversion of two years ago, when both gained ground after Japanese rivals suffered production and inventory shortages after the country's earthquake and tsunami tragedies.
Now, Hyundai can't come up with enough volume models in popular trim configurations to satisfy buyers, and lower-volume models are also in a snag. At the moment, Hyundai can only build 20-30 percent of Veloster hatchbacks with turbocharged engines while the US market would apparently support closer to 70 percent.
In order to reverse the sales slide, Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales of the vehicles they do have by some 50 percent, ringing up a total of 42,400 units in the first quarter. By contrast, Automotive News reports the seven largest automakers increased retail volume by seven percent and fleet sales by four percent as a group.