2014 Hyundai Sonata Gls on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Alguersuari out for Formula E season 2, hydrogen range test video

A pair of hydrogen proponents drove a Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell 1,480.73 miles in 24 hours. Arnt-Goran Hartvig and Marius Bornstein, nicknamed The Viking and The Scientist, drove a 186-mile route in Germany repeatedly as many times as they could over the course of a full day to set the distance record. The advantage of short refueling times for the hydrogen vehicle helped the duo spend more time on the road. See the video above, and read more from Hybrid Cars. Jaime Alguersuari will miss the second season of Formula E. His license was suspended after fainting at the end of the Moscow ePrix, and he is still waiting for a diagnosis. "During the month of July I underwent several tests for which there has not been a medical resolution and I am still waiting for the final diagnosis," says Alguersuari. "For this reason I need to announce that, unfortunately, I will not be able to take part in the FIA Formula E Championship for the 2015/16 season with my team DS Virgin Racing." The former Formula 1 driver will make an announcement about his future in September. Read more at Autosport. Jeb Bush has come out against the Renewable Fuel Standard. In an interview in an Iowa Falls Dairy Queen, the Republican presidential hopeful gave his opinion about the ethanol mandate. "The best way to get to energy security, in my mind, is letting the markets work," says Bush. "So the RFS has had great success, and over a period of time I think it has to be phased out." Ditching the ethanol mandate could hurt Bush in the important corn-growing state of Iowa, though he thinks his record as Florida governor will help his status with voters. Read more at Grist, and from KCCI.

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.

Ward's releases 10 Best Interiors list for 2014

While we're still a ways off from the automotive awards season proper, where things like North American Car and Truck of the Year, Motor Trend's Car of the Year and Car and Driver's Ten Best are named, that doesn't mean there aren't trophies being handed out to deserving automakers. Ward's 10 Best Interiors being one of them.
As the name might imply, the magazine focuses on the very best interior treatments in the US market. Whereas some awards purposely exclude extreme, high-dollar offerings, Ward's considers them - the only requirement is that a vehicle has a "new or significantly redesigned interior."
Ward's offered up the list of winners in simple, alphabetical order, and it only seems fair to do the same: