2011 Hyundai Hybrid on 2040-cars

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We get our hands on Android Auto [w/video]

After a week with version one of Android Auto in a 2015 Hyundai Sonata, my opinion is that it fulfills the promise of the technology. I couldn't even exploit it fully because I'm not married to the Android ecosystem. At my desk right now there's a PC in front of me, an iPad on my left, and an Android phone on my right. My Android phone is, in fact, so old that it's not compatible with Android Auto. So in addition to a Sonata, Hyundai let me borrow a Nexus 5 smartphone and a Motorola Moto360 watch. Yet even with all that gear, which, in practical terms is someone else's borrowed digital life, Android Auto still showed itself to be tech worth having. When you start the Sonata you get the standard Hyundai infotainment screen. Plug your phone in, and you'll get an option to click over to Android Auto. At that point, you lose the ability to use your phone, which is the purpose of the system, to keep you from using the handset. Since the contents of your phone are ported to the head unit, there is hardly any reason to reach for the portable device anyway. The Google Now screen comes up first, populated with a series of notifications resulting from Google having learned your life and kept track of where you've been going, who you've been calling, and what you've been searching for. After only two days, Google Now understood that I probably lived in Venice, CA, and not in Orange County, where the phone had previously resided. No matter the make of car, the interface is the same. The icons along the bottom of the screen indicate Navigation, Phone, Home (Google Now), Audio, and Return – to go back to the car's native interface. The first four options represent much of what we use our phones for (we'll get to texting in a second), and that's what buyers want: for cars to work seamlessly with their phones. Oh, and to have voice recognition actually be useful. Android Auto works with the Hyundai system, so if music is playing when you turn the car on, it will continue to play even though you're in Android Auto, and you can control it through that interface. Switching to media or apps on your phone is as easy as saying, "Play music," which defaults to Google Play, or pressing the audio button and choosing an app like JoyRide or NPR One. You do have to figure out how to speak to the system. I couldn't find any list of Android Auto-specific voice commands, so sometimes it would take a few tries to figure out how Google liked to be ordered around.

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.

2019 Hyundai Ioniq gets new safety, infotainment tech

The Hyundai Ioniq lineup of electrified vehicles is being updated for 2019 with new safety technologies, more voice-recognition features and standard remote charge management for electric and plug-in hybrid models. Models equipped with navigation capabilities will get an enhanced, natural-language, server-based voice-recognition with a new point-of-interest search database that can suss out locations of charging stations. Driver attention alert and high-beam assist are new available features, along with automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, which is standard for the SEL trim along with lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control. Hyundai says it's working with ChargePoint, which operates more than 32,000 electric-vehicle charging stations, to provide Ioniq owners with access cards and the ability to locate charging stations through the MyHyundai/Blue Link mobile app. Ioniq Electric and PHEV models come with Blue Link-, Google- or Alexa-enabled capability to manage and monitor charging schedules remotely to help take advantage of lower electricity prices during off-peak hours. Hyundai sells the Ioniq in Hybrid, Electric and Plug-In Hybrid variants. The Hybrid boasts an estimated 58 mpg rating from its 1.6-liter direct-injected engine, 32-kilowatt electric motor and 1.56 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery. The Electric boasts a 136 MPGe rating and 124-mile driving range from its 28.0 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery, while the Plug-In Hybrid uses a 1.6-liter direct-injected Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, a 44.5 kW electric motor and 8.9 kWh battery to offer 29 miles in electric-only driving range. Hyundai sold 11,197 Ioniq models in 2017, though it didn't start selling the sedans until late in the first quarter. The 2019 models arrive in dealerships this summer, though pricing hasn't yet been announced. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 Hyundai Ioniq Image Credit: Hyundai Green Hyundai Infotainment Hatchback Electric Hybrid PHEV safety features hyundai ioniq hyundai ioniq electric hyundai ioniq plug-in