2014 Kia Soul Base on 2040-cars

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Which of these five plug-ins should win the 2017 Green Car of the Year?

It's going to be a competitive race for the 2017 Green Car Of The Year. With a minivan in the running for the first time in ages, the five finalists announced by Green Car Journal today include five very different plug-in vehicles. As Ron Cogan, the editor and publisher of Green Car Journal, said in a statement, "electrification is now considered by most automakers an essential technology for current and future high-efficiency models." Let's check out the list: Toyota Prius Prime, the updated plug-in version of the world's best-selling hybrid. Chevy Bolt, GM's all-new entry into the long-range EV game. Chrysler Pacifica, a family hauler with the ability to go 30 miles on electric power. Kia Optima. The nomination is for the full line-up, but really the hybrid and plug-in hybrid models are the green stars here. BMW 330e iPerformance, one of the automaker's many new plug-in hybrids that bring battery power to models outside the i sub-brand. Green Car Journal will announce the winners at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 17th, along with some, "other green transportation announcements," whatever that means. Last year, the winner was the 2016 Chevy Volt, the first model to snatch up two wins. Which do you think should win this year? Related Video: News Source: Green Car JournalImage Credit: REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian Green LA Auto Show BMW Chevrolet Chrysler Kia Toyota Chevy Bolt chrysler pacifica green car of the year toyota prius prime bmw 330e

Rumormill again says Kia Stinger is on the ropes

The Kia Stinger hit the market in 2017, spending the first year of its life earning plaudits for terrific handling at an unbeatable price. Although the Stinger could shake the competition, starting in 2018 and ever since, the Stinger couldn't shake rumors that it won't get a second generation. In fact, tangential questions about the Kia began in late 2017, with the assertion that Kia needed to upgrade its dealer network if it really wanted to take on the Germans. Once sales in the key North American market began to soften, then slide, that put blood in the water. Kia's head of design couldn't put off the sharks in October 2018, telling Australian outlet Which Car that the sedan wasn't selling as well as expected in North America. He returned with the same dolor the next year when speaking to Aussie outlet Car Advice, and followed that a month later by sharing the same hesitations phrased differently with Aussie outlet CarsGuide. Now The Korean Car Blog, sourcing "a new report of the South Korean sales," alleges the situation has gotten worse thanks to the coronavirus catastrophe and the need to conserve resources. Kia had already opted not to put a new powertrain into the 2021 Stinger refresh, saving money by adding more power to the current 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 with a revised exhaust. Everyone who appreciates the Stinger has clear ideas about why it doesn't sell well in certain markets, like these Canadians, this guy in the UK, and these folks from the U.S. and other countries. TKCB believes one of the major issues is the in-house Genesis G70 competition, which has just about everything the Kia could want: A premium brand with premium touchpoints, marketing and advertising, a more rational equipment mix, near constant tweaking, and again, marketing and advertising. Does anyone remember when LeBron James and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler fronted the Stinger movement? Of course, the rumors of axing are still only rumors, and the Stinger is still only three years old. Anything can happen, apparently including the remote possibilities the Stinger morphs into a different kind of vehicle or goes electric. If the sales numbers continue as they've been going, however, something will need to happen; after an 18% dip from 2018 to 2019 in U.S. sales, the Stinger's already down 21% so far this year. Or we'd think something needs to happen — the Kia K900 remains on sale having tabbed 102 sales all of last year in the U.S., and 65 so far this year.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.