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Hyundai, union reach tentative labor deal

According to Reuters, South Korea's labor unions may have reached a tentative deal with Hyundai following a compromise between the two sides on wages. Workers have staged a number of stoppages since August 20, which have cost the South Korean giant 1.02 trillion won - around $1.1B US. It also represents just over 50,000 units of production. That vehicle total sounds like a lot, but it's a small enough figure that Hyundai can apparently catch up with weekend and overtime shifts. We'd wager that this is why US inventories haven't been hit quite so hard aside from the battering already taking place. The proposal will now go before the union's rank and file.
If ratified, the new agreement will see workers getting a 5.14-percent raise in base salaries, along with 8.5-million-won (roughly $7,800) bonuses. Those concessions are a far cry compared to what the union was initially demanding, though. Early proposals included a 56.25-gram gold medal for each employee (worth about $2,400) and a 10-million won bonus (about $9,100) for employees whose children chose not to attend college. The union also sought a bonus worth two months' salary for workers that have been with the company for over 40 years, but this was negotiated down to a flat rate of six-million won ($5,464).
Based on Reuters' report, the work stoppages must have taken a real toll on Hyundai - its domestic sales dropped 20 percent last month, while exports were down nine percent. Those startling figures must have put some fire under the Hyundai bargaining team.

2014 Kia Sedona rises from the dead, same as it ever was

Don't throw away your car seats just yet, Korean minivan enthusiasts - the Kia Sedona is back on the market. If you recall, Kia killed its minivan offering at the end of 2012 (there was never a 2013 model). But here's what's making us scratch our heads: Despite the fact that Kia did confirm that the Sedona would eventually be back, we were under the impression that it would return with a proper replacement for the aging van. (Earlier reports suggested something along the lines of that cool KV7 concept.) Instead, the reincarnated Korean minivan you see here is, well, the same as it ever was. Consider our buzz killed.
That's not to say there haven't been a couple of delightfully refreshed bits thrown into the new package. For starters, the Sedona wears a slightly updated schnoz with a redesigned grille, LED positioning lamps and standard foglamps inside the reworked lower fascia. (If we're honest, the Kia looks a bit Ford Windstar-ish from the front three-quarter angle.) There's a new 17-inch wheel design for the 2014 model year, and aside from a couple enhancements to the interior in terms of storage, that short list rounds out the full extent of the new updates.
All Sedonas are powered by the same 3.5-liter V6 that debuted in the 2011 model, producing 269 horsepower and 246 pound-feet of torque, mated exclusively to a six-speed automatic transmission. Fuel economy ratings fall in at a rather mediocre 17/24 miles per gallon (city/highway).

U.S. Senate panel wants Hyundai, Kia to testify about engine fires

WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee's Republican chairman and ranking Democrat said on Wednesday they had asked top U.S. executives at Hyundai and Kia to testify at a Nov. 14 hearing on reports of engine fires involving vehicles from the Korean automakers. The call to testify comes after safety advocates raised concerns about fires in vehicles not involved in collisions. The nonprofit consumer advocacy group Center for Auto Safety said last week that 103 fire complaints had been filed with U.S. safety regulators since June 12 and urged an immediate recall of nearly 3 million vehicles. Hyundai said in a statement it had received the request to appear "and is currently reviewing it." The company added it "actively monitors and evaluates potential safety concerns, including non-collision fires, with all of its vehicles and acts swiftly to recall any vehicles with safety-related defects." Kia did not comment. Shares of Hyundai Motor fell as much as 3.8 percent in Seoul trading on Thursday. Kia Motors stock also slid 3.7 percent, while the wider market was down 0.6 percent as of 0232 GMT. In May 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, opened a formal investigation into the recall of nearly 1.7 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles over engine defects. A South Korean whistleblower in 2016 reported concerns to NHTSA, which has been probing the timeliness of three recalls carried out in the United States and whether they covered enough vehicles. Sen. Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, said a non-collision fire death had been reported last year in a 2014 Kia Soul. "We've got to get to the bottom of what's causing these fires," Nelson said in a statement Wednesday. "Car owners need to know if their vehicles are safe." The letter to the automakers, also signed by Sen. John Thune, who chairs the committee, said the hearing will also "examine efforts to mitigate vehicle fires and promptly identify and respond to defects that may pose a fire risk" and invites the chief executives of Hyundai and Kia's U.S. units to testify or their designee. In 2015, Hyundai recalled 470,000 U.S. Sonata sedans, saying engine failure would result in a vehicle stall, increasing the risk of a crash. At that time, affiliate Kia did not recall its vehicles, which share the same "Theta II" engines. In March 2017, Hyundai expanded its original U.S.