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Hyundai confirms a shift to EVs, unveils fuel cell SUV

SEOUL — Hyundai confirmed on Thursday it was placing electric vehicles at the center of its product strategy — one that includes plans for a premium long-distance electric car as it seeks to catch up to Tesla and other rivals. Like Toyota, Hyundai had initially championed fuel cell technology as the future of eco-friendly vehicles but has found itself shifting to electric as Tesla shot to prominence and battery-powered cars have gained government backing in China. Hyundai's debut of its more modestly priced Ionic hybrid and electric has been well-received. But the pure electric's per-charge driving range is much shorter than the Tesla Model 3 or Chevrolet Bolt. Toyota is now also working on longer-distance, fast-charging electric vehicles. Hyundai first started signaling this strategic shift back in May when it first discussed plans to launch an electric sedan under its high-end Genesis brand in 2021 with a range of 500 km (310 miles) per charge. It will also introduce an electric version of its Kona small crossover with a range of 390 km in the first half of next year. "We're strengthening our eco-friendly car strategy, centering on electric vehicles," Executive Vice President Lee Kwang-guk told a news conference, calling the technology mainstream and realistic. The automaker and affiliate Kia, which together rank fifth in global vehicle sales, also said they were adding three plug-in vehicles to their plans for eco-friendly cars, bringing the total to 31 models by 2020. Underscoring Hyundai's electric shift, those plans include eight battery-powered and two fuel-cell vehicles — a contrast to its 2014 announcement for 22 models, of which only two were slated to be battery-powered. Hyundai also confirmed a Reuters report that it is developing its first scaleable, dedicated electric vehicle platform, which will allow the company to produce multiple models with longer driving ranges. HYDROGEN SUV Hyundai unveiled a near production version of its new fuel cell SUV with a driving range of more than 580 km per charge, compared with the 415 km for its current Tucson fuel cell SUV. The mid-sized SUV will be launched in Korea early next year, followed by U.S. and European markets. A fuel cell electric bus is slated to be unveiled late this year, while a sedan-type fuel cell car is also planned. Even so, analysts noted that gaining traction with fuel cells was going to be a long hard slog partly due to a lack of charging infrastructure.

Hyundai, Kia, Genesis and Subaru clean up in IIHS 2018 safety ratings

Hyundai, its partner Kia and its Genesis division are the big winners in the latest vehicle safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, accounting for six of the 15 models that earned the Top Safety Pick+ awards for 2018. Subaru was right behind with four, Mercedes-Benz had two, and Toyota, BMW and Ford each had one. Another 47 vehicles earned the Top Safety Pick designation, where Toyota had 10 vehicle models, with Hyundai recognized for nine models. All but one of the seven vehicles in Subaru's lineup, the BRZ, qualified for one of the awards. IIHS strengthened the criteria for the Top Safety Pick+ award for 2018 to require headlights to earn a "good" rating — an "acceptable" rating was previously enough to notch the "plus" award — and good or acceptable passenger-side protection in the small overlap front crash, which replicates a crash involving just the front corner of a vehicle. It also required vehicles to have acceptable or good headlights for the first time to earn a Top Safety Pick award. Most of winners for both awards qualified on the basis of optional upgrades. IIHS in October began evaluating the passenger side of vehicles in its small overlap front crash test after it said it became clear that automakers were neglecting that side of the vehicle as they focused on improving driver-side protections. IIHS first began conducting driver-side small overlap crashes in 2012. It began measuring both how well low and high beams illuminated the road and the amount of glare they produce for oncoming vehicles as part of its ratings in 2016. The Top Safety Pick+ winners are listed below. The list doesn't include any minivans, pickups or minicars, which don't appear on either list of awardees. Small cars Kia Forte Kia Soul Subaru Impreza (sedan and wagon) Subaru WRX Midsize cars Subaru Legacy Subaru Outback Toyota Camry Large luxury cars BMW 5 series Genesis G80 Genesis G90 Lincoln Continental Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan Midsize SUVs Hyundai Santa Fe Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Midsize luxury SUV Mercedes-Benz GLC The full list of Top Safety Pick winners is available here.Related Video: Image Credit: IIHS BMW Genesis Hyundai Kia Lincoln Subaru Toyota Safety Crossover SUV Wagon Sedan crash test

Hyundai takes fully autonomous fuel cell vehicles on 70 mph road trip

Hyundai has announced three test vehicles based on its upcoming NEXO fuel cell vehicles, fitted with Level 4 autonomous technology, have completed a trial journey of 118 miles from Seoul to Pyeongchang across the Korean peninsula completely autonomously. It's a world first for fuel cell powered vehicles to reach Level 4 autonomous driving, which translates as "mind off" driving with no driver input needed. One of the interesting things about the NEXO fleet's trial is that it was performed in regular traffic at public highways, at speeds up to nearly 70mph. Earlier autonomous car testing in Korea has been performed on selected sections of road and at lower speeds than the highest allowed Korean highway speed reached in this trial. Hyundai says the test drive included following the traffic's flow, completing lane changes, and even handling motorway toll booths — and that the only human intervention needed was pressing "Cruise" and "Set" buttons on the three cars' steering wheels, to put them in autonomous mode. The NEXO has been designed as a hydrogen fuel cell car from the ground up, instead of the earlier, ICE-based Tucson FCEV. Hyundai claims a target range of 500 miles (NEDC) for the NEXO, for a single, five-minute hydrogen charge, and a system efficiency of 60 percent. On the run to CES from L.A. last month, Hyundai declared a real-world range of 360 miles for the tested NEXO; the 120-kW motor takes the fuel cell crossover to 60 mph in 9.9 seconds. The vehicles used in the South Korean trial use a combination of radar, lidar and cameras to monitor their surroundings, and some of these systems are already used in production Hyundai vehicles. At CES, Hyundai announced its partnership with Aurora Innovation, which is a Silicon Valley startup set up by former Alphabet Inc and Tesla engineers; the autonomous NEXOs are likely to feature Aurora's input. Hyundai sees commercialization of Level 4 vehicles taking place in 2021, though only in what it calls "pilot smart cities," or locations tailored to be connected enough to make the implementation of autonomous tech easier. "Fully" autonomous driving would be at commercial level by 2030. As for the vehicle itself, it features virtual assistant technology that is complemented with noise canceling to further turn the NEXO into a cocoon-like pod; there's also "Home Connect" tech which enables the passengers to use smart home gadgets remotely during their commute. Related Video: