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Trump wants a trade deal, but South Korea doesn't want US cars

SEOUL - US auto imports from the likes of General Motors and Ford must become more chic, affordable or fuel-efficient to reap the rewards of President Donald Trump's attempts to renegotiate a trade deal with key ally South Korea, officials and industry experts in Seoul say. Meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week in Washington, Trump said the United States would do more to address trade imbalances with South Korea and create "a fair shake" to sell more cars there, the world's 11th largest auto market. "What we really want to say to the United States is: Make good cars, make cars that Korean consumers like." While imports from automakers including Ford, Chrysler and GM more than doubled last year largely thanks to free trade deal which took effect in 2012, sales account for just 1 percent of a market dominated by more affordable models from local giants Hyundai and affiliate Kia. Imports make up just 15 percent of the overall Korean auto market, and are mainly more luxurious models from German automakers BMW and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, which also benefit from a trade deal with the European Union. "Addressing non-tariff barriers would not fundamentally raise the competitiveness of US cars," a senior Korean government official told Reuters, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. "What we really want to say to the United States is: Make good cars, make cars that Korean consumers like." TASTE BARRIER In Korea, US imports are seen as lagging German brands in brand image, sophistication and fuel economy, industry experts say. US imports do have a competitive advantage in electric cars: Tesla Motors' electric vehicles are seen as both environmentally friendly and trendy, while GM has launched a long-range Bolt EV. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had cited a quota in the current trade deal as an obstacle to boosting imports. The quota allows US automakers to bring in each year 25,000 vehicles that meet US, not necessarily Korean, safety standards. Should GM, for example, decide to bring in more than its quota of one model - the Impala sedans - it would cost up to $75 million to modify the cars to meet Korean safety standards, the company told its local labor union. Asked about non-tariff barriers, a spokesman at GM's Korean unit said removing them could expand the range of models the company can bring in from the United States. No US company, however, has yet to make full use of the quota, industry data shows.

2019 Kia Niro EV First Drive Review | How to have fun in a practical EV

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Kia Niro EV rounds out the Niro trio, and is the most impressive on paper. With the same 64-kWh battery and 201-horsepower electric motor as the Hyundai Kona Electric, it's rated at 239 miles of driving range between charges. Granted, 239 miles is less than the 258 miles the Kona EV gets on paper, so we were eager to see what the differences were between the similar EVs. After spending an icy, frigid weekend driving (and falling in love with) the Hyundai Kona Electric around Michigan we hopped on a plane, and headed to Santa Cruz to try out the 2019 Kia Niro EV (and to escape the cold). With a longer wheelbase and greater overall length than the Kona, the Niro EV offers a little more rear legroom — about three inches extra. As a 6-footer, I didn't find it uncomfortable to squeeze in behind an even taller driver. This bodes well for those of us with car seats we need to install in the back of our EVs. The Niro EV also boasts more luggage space than the Kona, with 18.5 cubic feet behind the rear seats, and 53 cubic feet with the seats folded down. We were impressed by the large rear opening and the spaciousness of the cargo area. The driver's seating position took a lot of adjustment to get comfortable in, a problem we didn't have in the Kona. No matter what we did, we felt like we were sitting too high up in the vehicle, but eventually it began to feel natural as our focus shifted from the interior around us to the road in front of us. Still, every time we got back in the car, we felt the need to try to improve the seating position. At least the seats were comfortable and supportive. Thankfully, Kia didn't go overboard with the styling of the Niro EV, and that goes for the interior, too. The oddest thing is the big rotary gear selector. While it looks like it would be in the way of the cupholder, it didn't interfere with grabbing our coffee, and it's more intuitive to use than the Kona Electric's separate PRDN buttons. The rest of the interior is about what you'd expect. There's a lot of plastic, a center stack that's maybe just a little too busy with buttons and controls, a well-incorporated touchscreen and a digital instrument cluster. It's quiet when you turn it on and begin to drive away, as you would expect. Listen carefully and you'll hear the spacey hum of its pedestrian warning system at low speeds, which shuts off as you approach 20 miles per hour.

Hyundai developing safety system calibrated for 'secondary impacts'

There is an inherent flaw with how traditional airbags are used and deployed: They can only reply to one impact. The Hyundai Motor Group wants to address this with a new "multi-collision airbag system" that focuses on impacts that occur after the first point of contact. Hyundai defines multi-collision accidents as "those in which the primary impact is followed by collisions with secondary objects, such as trees, electrical posts or other vehicles." In a press release, Hyundai noted that about 30 percent of roughly 56,000 accidents between 2000 and 2012 in North America involved these types of multi-collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System division. The airbag systems in today's cars don't always go off when the first accident occurs, and when a car goes through a secondary impact, the airbags may no longer provide the best safety. Hyundai's new system can read the positions of the car's occupants and react in a more beneficial way. It can quickly recalibrate after the first impact based on readings from the vehicle and the people inside, which allows the second part of the crash to trigger the airbags. As of now the system is still in development, but Hyundai Motor Group is planning to use it in both Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the future. Which models and which markets it will apply to first are yet to be determined. Related Video: