2014 Kia Sportage Sx on 2040-cars

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Why BMWs are cheaper than Hyundais in Korea

Bloomberg reports shifting tariff regulations have upended the traditional automotive pecking order in Korea. Thanks to cheaper import taxes, foreign brands have seen market share jump from 28 percent to 41 percent over the last two years. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have all capitalized on the shift, with domestics like Hyundai and Kia suffering at the hands of their German rivals.
Taxes on European imports have fallen from 8 percent in 2011 to just 3.2 percent today. Over the next few years, tariffs will all but be eliminated for most imports, and taxes on US-made vehicles are expected to fall to just 4 percent in 2014. By 2016, that number will be zero. Needless to say, Hyundai and Kia are concerned about the shift.
Hyundai has seen profit fall by 15 percent last quarter, and the company says it is on pace to see the slowest sales growth since 2007. The company's shares have fallen by 12 percent. In order to stem the losses, Hyundai has discounted its midsize sedans and started working on diesel engine options.

Provo concept name has Kia embroiled in terrorism controversy?

In the relatively lengthy press release that Kia composed for the launch of its Provo concept car at the Geneva Motor Show this week, the company never mentioned where the name came from, or what it means for the car. A very basic web search for "Provo" reveals that the inspiration for the hatch could have been a city in Utah, a township in South Dakota or a village in Bosnia. The name could be a reference to either an American (Fred) or Canadian (Dwayne) football player, and Provo might also accurately reference a "Dutch counterculture movement in the mid-1960s" or a ship in the US Navy. More likely than any of those, however, is that the Kia designers of the concept - a car that was wholly a product of the Korean automaker's design studios in Frankfurt, for the record - meant it as a play on the existing Pro_cee'd hatchback.
What the designers and Kia executives that signed off on the Provo almost certainly did not have in mind was a reference to a street name for the Provisional Irish Republican Army. That "Provo" was, according to TheDetroitBureau.com, an outlawed army faction that was blamed for some 2,000 deaths in Northern Ireland during a period stretching from 1970 to 1997.
And yet, it was that association that led Gregory Campbell, a member of parliament from Northern Ireland, to introduce legislation that would ban Kia from selling a car under the name Provo. Kia, quick to realize the sizable gaffe it has stumbled into with the name, has reportedly already promised not to use the name for a production vehicle.

Car dealership gives man a new car after his is tagged with racist graffiti

Update: The Facebook post from the passerby mentioned is no longer available, and has been removed from the text. A man in Arkansas who found his pride and joy broken into and covered in racist graffiti has a new set of wheels, thanks to one generous car dealership. Reshod Johnson left his car parked outside of his place of work for just 15 minutes last week while he retrieved chairs for his son's third birthday party. When he returned, he found his belongings scattered across the street and racist terms spray painted on his car. "I just don't understand it. I don't do anything to hurt anybody," Johnson told THV11. "I don't go out looking for trouble." A friend spotted two white men fleeing the scene in a red truck. He made a police report, but as a full time student and former veteran with Christmas around the corner and a three-year-old at home, money is tight. Johnson made the painful decision to continue to drive his 2006 Nissan with the hateful messages intact, though he was keeping his young son away from it. "We're supposed to have advanced past this and to serve the country and to serve for everyone and to fight for rights and freedom for everyone and for this to happen, it's like a slap in the face and makes you wonder for what," Johnson told THV. When a passerby saw the damage, she became emotional and posted about the incident on Facebook. According to 9news.com, the post drew a ton of help and attention to Johnson's story. Steve Landers Kia saw Johnson's story and decided to help. They donated a new ride to Johnson just in time for Christmas. They said it was the least they could do for a veteran who experienced horrific random hate. "Times are hard out here and he's a veteran," an employee for Steve Landers Kia told 9News.com. "We're just trying to help the community out."Related Video: Weird Car News Kia Maintenance Ownership Safety vandalism veterans graffiti racism