2008 Hyundai Tucson Se Sport Utility 4-door 2.7l on 2040-cars

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Hyundai boosted production in March, so now its cars sit in U.S. ports

SEOUL — As Detroit's automakers shut production in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea's Hyundai cranked up its factories back home to ship cars to the United States, a move that is proving costly for the world's fifth-largest auto group. Hyundai ramped up domestic production to as much as 98% of capacity by late March, not only as the Korean market was recovering from a bad February but also because it bet on demand for Tucson SUVs and other models from U.S. customers, its biggest overseas market outside of China. While Hyundai is one of few global automakers whose production has recovered at home, its exports optimism has been dampened by the severity of the U.S. outbreak, weak consumer sentiment and as rivals have quickly moved to guard their turf. Consignments of cars shipped from South Korea are now sitting in U.S. ports, with dealers slow to take deliveries because of slumping sales and rising inventory, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The company idled a Tucson production line at home last week for five days, while sister firm Kia is looking to suspend three Korean plants for a week. And analysts now expect a sharp drop in first-quarter operating profit when it reports results on Thursday and some even forecast a second-quarter loss. "I hope that the situation will recover by the middle of next month. If not, we might have to lay off some people," said Brad Cannon, general manager of an exclusive Hyundai dealership in California, whose sales are down more than 50% from when the pandemic started. Hyundai runs a factory in Alabama — which is closed until May 1 — but imports are key to meet U.S. demand. Only about half of its vehicles sold in the United States are made in North America compared to between 68% and 85% for Japanese rivals Toyota, Nissan and Honda, who have also suspended production there till May. The South Korean company makes about 61% of its cars overseas, up from 48% a decade ago. That leaves it vulnerable to overseas factory shutdowns and shrinking demand outside of its home market. Hyundai's South Korean factory operation, which had recovered from a component shortage from China to nearly 100% capacity by March, could fall to as much as 70% in April, the company recently told analysts. "We will continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate action promptly," Hyundai said in an emailed statement. Minimizing the impact For its part, Hyundai has taken measures to minimize the impact.

Hyundai spooks investors by paying $10B for new Gangnam HQ location

Doing things Gangnam style apparently costs a serious chunk of change, because Hyundai is reportedly paying roughly $10 billion for 19.6 acres (79,342 square meters) of land in the trendy district of Seoul, South Korea, to serve as the location for its new headquarters. That eye-popping number represents the highest amount ever paid for a plot of land in South Korea, according to Reuters. The hefty price tag reportedly scared investors enough for stock prices to sink dramatically.
Shareholders were apparently upset because the massive outlay could instead have been put back into the company for research and development or other improvements. Instead, the company reportedly bid triple the land's appraised value, says Reuters. The announcement caused Hyundai's stock price to plummet a massive 9 percent, and there were losses from Kia and the company's parts arm, as well. All told, the three of them lost nearly $8 billion in value from the falling share prices - almost enough to pay for the controversial land.
Hyundai currently has its headquarters on the outskirts of Seoul, but seems keen to move to the high-end Gangnam district to show off its rising status. It plans to build a new office complex, hotel, convention center and theme park on the site. According to an analyst speaking to Reuters, that could all cost an additional $6 billion to complete.

Hyundai's all-new 2018 hydrogen-powered CUV comes into focus

It's no secret that Hyundai has plans for hydrogen-powered vehicles beyond the currently available Tucson Fuel Cell. Ever since the debut of the Intrado concept at the Geneva Motor Show in early 2014, Hyundai has been dropping hints about what the new big-ish H2 vehicle will offer. We say "big-ish" because Hyundai Motor Group's director of eco-vehicle development, Ahn Byung-ki, told Automotive News that the next-gen hydrogen powertrain will find a home in a "totally new" model that will be "somewhere between a CUV and SUV." So, whatever fancy new automotive segment that phrase happens to define – MUV, for middleweight utility vehicle? – is what Hyundai's new hydrogen offering will be. Under the hood, the upcoming vehicle will use a fuel cell that doesn't need as much platinum and will have a bigger battery and a smaller motor. We had originally heard that this new hydrogen CUV/SUV would arrive in 2020, but Ahn said that the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea will be "a big event. That's always a good opportunity for PR." With the Intrado concept, Hyundai said it was, "far more than a styling exercise." We've since heard that Hyundai believes that a CUV/SUV model offers the best option for customers buying a fuel cell vehicle. Earlier this year, Hyundai's head of the company's fuel cell research, Sae-Hoon Kim, said that, "all customer feedback says range and boot space are the priorities." The Intrado concept had a supposed range of around 375 miles. What that would translate to outside of the fictional auto show universe is unknown, but it sounds like Hyundai is ready to make all of this more real. Related Video: Featured Gallery Hyundai Intrado Concept: Geneva 2014 View 16 Photos News Source: Automotive News – sub. req. Green Hyundai Green Automakers SUV Hydrogen Cars h2 hyundai intrado