2012 Kia Soul on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Automakers drop support for Trump effort against California emissions

WASHINGTON — Toyota, Fiat Chrysler (now known as Stellantis following its merger with Peugeot) and other major automakers said on Tuesday they were joining General Motors in abandoning support for former President Donald Trump's effort to bar California from setting its own zero emission vehicle rules. The automakers, which also included Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Subaru, said in a joint statement they were withdrawing from an ongoing legal challenge to California's emission-setting powers, "in a gesture of good faith and to find a constructive path forward" with President Joe Biden. The automakers, along with the National Automobile Dealers Association, said they were aligned "with the Biden administrationÂ’s goals to achieve year-over-year improvements in fuel economy standards." Nissan in December withdrew from the challenge after GM's decision in November shocked the industry and won praise from Biden. On Monday, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia to put the California emissions litigation on hold to "ensure due respect for the prerogative of the executive branch to reconsider the policy decisions of a prior administration." Biden has directed agencies to quickly reconsider TrumpÂ’s 2019 decision to revoke CaliforniaÂ’s authority to set its own auto tailpipe emissions standards and require rising numbers of zero-emission vehicles, as well as Trump's national fuel economy rollback. Asked to respond to the automakers' action, White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said in a statement that "after four years of putting us in reverse, it is time to restart and build a sustainable future, grow domestic manufacturing, and deliver clean cars for America." California Governor Gavin Newsom praised the automakers on Twitter for "dropping your climate-denying, air-polluting, Trump-era lawsuit against CA" and urged them to join the voluntary framework. TALKS WITH BIDEN Separately, an industry trade group on Tuesday proposed to start talks with Biden on revised fuel economy standards that would be higher than Trump-era standards but lower than ones set during the prior Democratic administration. The Trump administration in March finalized a rollback of U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to require 1.5% annual increases in efficiency through 2026, well below the 5% yearly boosts under the Obama administration rules it discarded.

Volvo, Kia and BYD duke it out in the finals for World Car of 2024

Three electric vehicles — none produced by an American manufacturer — will compete next month for the title of 2024 World Car of the Year, it was announced Monday. The finalists are the Kia EV9, the Volvo EX30 and the BYD Seal (shown above). The latter two are built in China. The three top finalists in five other categories were also named at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland. The winners in all six categories will be revealed live during an awards ceremony at the New York International Auto Show on March 27. This year marks the 20th year of the World Car Awards and the partnership with the New York show. Besides car of the year, the other finalists are: Electric vehicle: BMW i5, Kia EV9, Volvo EX30; Luxury car: BMW 5 Series/i5, Mercedes Benz E-Class, Mercedes Benz EQE SUV; Performance car: BMW M2, BMW XM, Hyundai Ionia 5 N; Urban car: BYD Dolphin, Lexus LBX, Volvo EX30; World Car Design: Ford Bronco, Ferrari Purosangue, Toyota Prius. Only Ford among U.S. companies has an entry in the final selections, and only in one category, design, for the Bronco. BMW has four vehicles in the finals, Volvo has three, Kia and Mercedes have two each. BYD from China has two entries as well. The Seal went on sale in in its home market in 2022 and is now available in most of the rest of the world. The BYD Co. (which stands for Build Your Dreams) has surpassed Tesla to become the worldÂ’s biggest maker of electric vehicles, and has its sights set on the U.S. The selection process for World Cars involves 100-plus automotive journalists from 29 countries who vote, as they review and test-drive the eligible vehicles for the 2024 awards. Their journey is captured virtually on World Car TV. Design/Style Geneva Motor Show BMW Ferrari Ford Hyundai Kia Lexus Mercedes-Benz Toyota Volvo Best Cars World Car of the Year

2020 Kia Soul teased ahead of L.A. Auto Show debut

We've seen Kia Soul prototypes in spy shots a few times now, and they've all been carefully covered up. This often means that we'll be waiting awhile before the car is revealed, but that's not the case with the Soul. It's coming to the L.A. Auto Show in just a couple of weeks, and Kia released a teaser to announce the reveal. The teaser shows the rear pillar from the side. As expected from the prototypes, the Soul retains its boxy design. It also has the upswept rear windows that create a very thick rear pillar. The new Soul does adopt the popular floating roof design, created in this case by a matte-black plastic piece in which the Soul logo has been embossed. The taillight's overall design is similar to the current model, with it rising vertically along the rear pillar. But it looks as though it may wrap around the top of the roof now. As we've seen from spy shots, the new Kia Soul will adopt some other interesting design cues. The aforementioned taillights also extend inward into the rear hatch. The headlights at the front feature a slim, full-length portion up top that appears to only have the running lights. Below are large light pods that, like on the Hyundai Kona, probably house the actual forward-illuminating lights. Kia confirmed in the teaser that it will offer versions of all the current Soul models with this new generation. That includes the base-level models, the sporty Turbo model, and the electric Soul. We've seen these iterations testing. The Soul Turbo looks aggressive with a new center exhaust outlet. The Soul EV has many blocked-off grilles like so many electrics, but more interesting is that a display inside the car suggested it will have a range of over 200 miles, similar to the Niro EV. We'll have all the details when the Soul makes its debut at the L.A. Auto Show, so stay tuned. Related Video: Image Credit: Kia Green LA Auto Show Kia Crossover Hatchback Economy Cars Electric kia soul ev