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201-horsepower Hyundai Ioniq Electric track car is awesome

While we've seen plenty of high-performance electric cars, such as Rimac's supercars and Tesla's powerful sedans and crossovers, we haven't seen many modified electric cars. Or at least electric cars modified for more performance in the traditional sense of the word for more speed and handling prowess. Engineers at Hyundai are finally giving us a peak at the future of tuning and hot rodding with their upgraded 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric that's competing in the Optima Ultimate Street Car series this year. It's visually much more striking than the average Ioniq thanks in part to a bold color scheme, but also bolt-on fender flares and Volk TE37SL wheels wrapped in fat 275-mm width tires. More important, there are major changes under the skin. The standard Ioniq Electric's 118-horsepower, 218 pound-foot motor has been swapped out for the new Kona Electric's motor, which makes 201 horsepower and 291 pound-feet of torque. Though that's less power than the Veloster N that's also been racing this year, it's more torque than the same hot hatch. Power still goes to the front wheels, but now there's a limited-slip differential up front to prevent the inside wheel roasting its tire in corners. Interestingly, the only suspension change mentioned is firmer lowering springs, so presumably it still uses the torsion-beam rear suspension layout of the regular Ioniq Electric. Beefy six-piston Wilwood brakes up front and four-piston units in the rear help the car come to a stop much more quickly. The cooling systems for the electronics and battery pack have been upgraded, too. It all sounds like a blast to drive. As to why Hyundai built this, the company is using it for research and development purposes. Perhaps this will aid in developing an electric N model. It's also looking to build on its 2017 season when Hyundai was the only brand with a car in the Ultimate Street Car series GTE electric vehicle class. The modifications will certainly be useful this season, since a competitor has been to a few events with a Tesla Model X P100D. The overall standings show that the hopped-up Hyundai is second in total points, which will likely narrow after the Hyundai heads to its third event at Autoclub Speedway this weekend. The two cars have not been at the same events this year, but both appear to qualify for the final invitational event that takes place in Las Vegas following the SEMA show.

Google poised to release Apple CarPlay rival this month

Apple and Google. They're the Michigan and Ohio State of the tech world. They're New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, Real Madrid and Barcelona, or whatever sports-based rivalry you want to cook up. Bottom line, if one company expands into a segment, it's only a matter of time before the other follows suit. And now, that rivalry is about to carry over to your car's dashboard.
Unnamed sources are reporting to Automotive News that Google will unveil its very own challenger to Apple's new CarPlay in-car operating system later this month at the Mountain View, CA company's annual developer conference. The system, allegedly called Google Auto Link, will be the first product to come from the Open Automotive Alliance, a partnership between Google, General Motors, Hyundai, Audi, Honda and hardware manufacturer NVIDIA.
The official announcement is expected to be made on either June 25 or 26, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. Expect to hear a lot more about Google Auto Link then.

Hyundai Sante Fe reveals its refreshed face in South Korea

The Hyundai Santa Fe is getting a refreshed face just three years after the debut of the current generation, but for now the revision is exclusive to the South Korean market. The crossover is definitely getting a dash more style with this upgrade. The grille retains a three-bar design, but each crosspiece now sports cuts at each edge for a more visually interesting look. Lower down, the air intake grows larger for a little more aggression, and LED running lights are now mounted above the fog lights. The headlights are also re-sculpted for a sharper shape. According to a rough translation of Hyundai's press release, the rear bumper and taillights also see revisions, but the company has no photos of them. Similarly, the interior apparently receives a redesigned gauge cluster with new fonts and icons. For the South Korea at least, the updated Santa Fe is also getting an expanded list of tech options. Buyers can now opt for adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and a 360-degree camera system with parking assist. The release specifically mentions that Hyundai is aiming for the Santa Fe to score Good in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's small overlap crash test in the United States, versus the current version's Marginal rating. When the refreshed Santa Fe was previously spotted testing, the North American debut was predicted for sometime this year. Given the reveal of the crossover in South Korea, that estimated date would seem even more likely now. Autoblog reached out to a Hyundai Motor North America spokesperson for a more exact date, but all we heard back was that the automaker wouldn't comment on future product plans.