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Hyundai Azera fate in question for US

The Azera has been consistently outsold by its rivals. Through June, Hyundai has shifted just 4,191 units.
Hyundai's dealers call the Azera the "nicest car nobody knows about." That's according to Mike O'Brien, Hyundai Motor America's vice president of corporate and product planning. Indeed, the fullsize sedan is a handsome, well-rounded machine, loaded with creature comforts. Yet it's not selling well, and its space in Hyundai showrooms is about to get a whole lot more crowded thanks to the newly spruced-up 2015 Sonata. No surprise, then, that company officials admit that the model's future in the US is uncertain.

Hyundai i30 N getting 'fastback' variant

Overseas, the Hyundai i30, known as the Elantra GT here in America, has three total bodystyles. The first of course is the hatchback that we have here, and the other two include a wagon and a "fastback." The latter is basically a sedan with a liftback. It's also apparently the next Hyundai to get the N treatment based on these spy photos. There's no question this i30 fastback is an N. It has huge wheels and bright red brake calipers. The side skirts and rear bumper are more aggressive. And, like the normal hatchback and the Veloster N, it has a triangular rear light. But, unlike those two cars, this triangular light appears to be a rear fog light instead of a center high-mount brake light. This i30 N fastback also has the wide-set dual exhaust outlets of existing Hyundai N models. One major deviation we see on this fastback is the lack of a large rear wing. Both the i30 N hatchback and the Veloster N have large wings at the trailing edge of their respective roofs that just barely walk the line between classy and garish. The fastback seems to lack any wing at all, opting instead for just the little lip of the trunk lid found on the standard fastback. It could be that there's a bigger lip spoiler hidden under this prototype's wrappings, but that's still not a wing. Whenever the fastback does arrive, perhaps within a year, it will likely have the same two engine options available on the i30 N hatchback: a base version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder making 247 horsepower and a hotter iteration making 271 horsepower. The latter of these is the only available engine in the American Veloster N. And it's safe to say we won't be seeing the i30 N fastback in America. Hyundai has already made it clear that the i30 N hatch isn't coming to the U.S., despite the fact we get the normal i30 hatch. Since there's no Americanized i30 fastback, there's effectively no chance Hyundai would try to certify the body style solely for a niche model like the N. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Hyundai i30 N Fastback spy shots View 19 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos Hyundai Hatchback Performance Sedan i30 hyundai i30 Hyundai N

Hyundai sales slump in China over North Korea, standoff with Chinese partner

BEIJING/SEOUL — Hyundai is at loggerheads with its Chinese partner over efforts to cut supplier costs, as they grapple with cutthroat competition and the impact of a standoff between Beijing and Seoul. Hyundai, along with affiliate Kia, has been caught up in a political row over a missile defense system that is being deployed in South Korea, but opposed by China, as tensions grow over North Korean missile tests and last week's test of a nuclear bomb the North claims can be mounted on a missile. Sales of Hyundai cars in China have been falling, part of a backlash against South Korean brands over the missile system that China views as a threat to its own national security. On Tuesday, South Korea asked the United States to lift a limit on the explosive payloads it can use in the missile system. This as a North Korean missile, believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, was being tracked by intelligence services being moved on the ground toward North Korea's west coast and a possible launch site. That has come against the backdrop of ever tougher competition from local Chinese automakers. Until last year, Hyundai and Kia ranked third in China by sales. But Hyundai's sales alone have slumped 41 percent from January to July, fraying relations with local partner BAIC Motor Corp and making this the biggest crisis since Hyundai entered the Chinese market in 2002. Last month, Hyundai suspended production at its four China plants for a week after a French supplier refused to provide fuel tanks when its bills went unpaid. On Tuesday, Hyundai suspended production at one of its plants in China after a German firm went unpaid. Hyundai and BAIC — whose Beijing Hyundai joint venture is a 50:50 partnership — are divided over how to solve the issue of suppliers and tougher competition. Hyundai wants to protect its South Korean supply chain, while BAIC favors shifting to cheaper Chinese suppliers to cut costs, the people said. "BAIC wants to solve this aggressively and is ... asking Hyundai to change its sourcing strategy significantly and immediately," said the head of a Hyundai supplier based in Seoul, adding the idea was to source more locally from cheaper suppliers in China. Hyundai wants to solve this more gradually "over perhaps 5-10 years and do so in phases," the person said. BAIC declined to comment.