2019 Kia Sorento S on 2040-cars

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Imported pickup tax in play in Trump trade talks with South Korea

WASHINGTON/SEOUL - Talks starting Friday to amend a U.S.-South Korean trade deal must balance President Donald Trump's domestic agenda against the need to contain a nuclear armed North Korea and will have to be completed swiftly, officials from both sides told Reuters. The U.S goods trade deficit with South Korea has doubled since the 2012 signing of the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). Almost 90 percent of the 2016 shortfall of $27.6 billion came from the auto sector, an issue the United States is expected to press hard in the Washington talks. A quick deal could give Trump his first trade victory at a time when NAFTA negotiations are dragging on without agreement and pressure on China to change trade practices has yielded little progress. The talks, led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Michael Beeman and Yoo Myung-hee, director general for FTA negotiations at South Korea's trade ministry, begin at a time of heightened tensions with Pyongyang. A trade ministry official in Seoul said South Korea was waiting for Washington's formal proposals and substantial negotiations would not take place on Friday over a deal Trump has repeatedly threatened to scrap. "The U.S. brought up lowering non-tariff barriers, especially for their auto industry. At the moment, we are not sure whether the U.S. will ask that but we will be prepared (for the U.S. demand)," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the press. A top priority for the Americans is maintaining a 25 percent tariff on Korean pickup truck imports, which was meant to have been phased out from 2019 under the current deal, according to a U.S. official and a South Korean car industry source. South Korea has two major automakers, Hyundai and Kia, both of which are heavily reliant on exports due to the small size of their domestic market. Critics charge that South Korea discriminates against imports with a range of non-tariff barriers. South Korean auto companies believe that Washington will also seek to increase the 25,000-vehicle per U.S. automaker threshold for U.S. car shipments to South Korea that can enter the country without meeting Seoul's domestic industry regulations. The official at a South Korea auto company, who was not authorized to speak to the media, also said the United States was interested in easing Seoul's vehicle emissions targets. These are viewed as discriminating against U.S. autos.

2020 Kia Soul vs. subcompact crossovers: How they compare on paper

At 10 years old, the 2020 Kia Soul has entered its third, and potentially best, generation yet. To get here, it fought off other boxy hatchbacks such as the Scion xB and Nissan Cube. But now it faces all new competition: subcompact crossovers. They offer similar sizes, prices and flexibility as the Soul, but with a veneer of ruggedness. But the Soul is ready with its own rugged trim, the X-Line, plus the return of its powerful turbocharged variant. To see how the Soul stacks up to the fresh competition, we've compiled vital stats on all the tall hatches. Considering the prodigious size of the subcompact crossover segment, we've limited our selection to a few options that are similarly priced and sized to the Soul, and that offer a bit of funky styling. They include the Toyota C-HR, Nissan Kicks, Hyundai Kona and Honda HR-V. There are of course many more options, and you can create your own comparisons using our Compare Cars feature. (You can also check out our Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross comparison that includes a few larger choices). In the meantime, though, check out all the numbers on our selected vehicles in the chart below, followed by analysis after. Performance, fuel economy and drivetrains The crossover segment is diverse when it comes to powertrains, with all different displacements, induction systems and drive wheels. A surprising number of these supposedly rugged and off-road-oriented vehicles (at least more than normal cars) are front-drive only. These include the Nissan Kicks, Toyota C-HR and Kia Soul. But the Kona and HR-V offer all-wheel drive, with the Hyundai offering it on both engine options. Speaking of engine options, only the Kia and Hyundai have two possibilities, either a base 2.0-liter naturally aspirated engine, or a turbocharged 1.6-liter engine. The base engines have identical outputs of 147 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque, but the turbo engines differ. The Soul has 201 horsepower to the Hyundai's 175, but both make the same 195 pound-feet of torque. The Kicks, C-HR and HR-V all offer just one engine option, and they're all naturally aspirated. The Nissan's engine is the smallest and least powerful: a 1.6-liter engine making 125 horsepower and 115 pound-feet of torque. The HR-V is next with a 1.8-liter engine making 141 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque. The C-HR rounds out the trio at 144 horsepower and 139 pound-feet of torque from a 2.0-liter engine.

Chrysler and Hyundai join Pepsi and Coke as top Super Bowl spenders [w/ video]

Super Bowl XLVIII is barely a week away, and some of the early ads are already leaking out. It's timely then that The Street has released rankings of the top five Super Bowl advertisers since 2009, showing Chrysler and Hyundai/Kia taking two of the spots with $131.7 million in cumulative spending.
Since 2010, the cost to air a 30-second Super Bowl ad has risen from $3 million in 2009 to about $4 million in 2014, and about a fifth of advertisers opt for a one-minute ad, which doubles costs. Last year, the ads brought in $292 million, and they have brought in roughly $2 billion since 2010.
Chrysler has spent $64.3 million since 2009 to make it the fourth highest spending company in the last five years. In that time, the company has rebranded itself as it emerged from bankruptcy with the Imported from Detroit ad campaign that premiered in 2011 and last year's God Made a Farmer Ram Trucks ad. Its 2012 Halftime in America sparked national debate about whether it was also a reference to the upcoming presidential election.