Korean carmakers eye future; can USA compete?



Busan is the cleanest city I've ever seen: not a cigarette butt or gum wrapper on the ground. No garbage pails either. I'm told that if people see litter on the ground, they pick it up and put it in their pocket until they can throw it away.

Last month, I was in Korea's second-largest city for the 2024 Busan International Motor Show, which has been held biennially since 2001. Starting this year, it has a new name: the Busan International Mobility Show, which better reflects the wider range of transportation innovation it hopes to showcase.

[Hyundai] has built every vehicle it makes to be either hybrid, gas, or electric. The company was smart enough to say, 'Let's make this like Lego: same body, different drive line underneath.'

I didn't see any flying cars, but my visit did give me the chance to reflect on the rise of the Korean automobile industry in the last two decades.

Korean cars have been in the United States market since 1986, with the Hyundai Excel. That car was a huge hit with American consumers, but quality issues over the long run gave it and other Hyundai models a bad reputation.

In 1998, Hyundai decided to change its poor reputation abroad by making massive investments in design, quality, and marketing.

It looked at how the Japanese were offering packaged trim levels and did the same.

It also looked at the typical U.S. three-year, 32,000-mile warranty and decided to more than triple that: 10 years, 100,000 miles, including basic maintenance. To this day, no other manufacturers have tried to compete on warranty. The Germans have extended their warranties to four years, 50,000 miles, which hasn't kept Hyundai from taking a big chunk of their market.

Hyundai also began manufacturing in America. It 2005, it opened a factory in Montgomery, Alabama; followed by a Kia factory (Hyundai has been Kia's parent company since 1997) in West Point, Georgia, in 2010. The latter expects to roll its five millionth car off the assembly line sometime in 2025.

Last year Hyundai's luxury brand Genesis began producing the Electrified GV70 SUV in the Montgomery plant, the first Genesis model to be manufactured in America.

I spoke to Hyundai head Jay Chang about their EV strategy. While vehicles the Kia EV9 have gotten a lot of acclaim, I asked him point blank what happens if the market for EVs collapses? His answer was simple: we'll make electric vehicles if people want them.

Unlike us, Hyundai doesn't have an EV mandate; moreover, it's realized electric cars aren't the answer. So instead of going all in, it's built every vehicle it makes to be either hybrid, gas, or electric. The company was smart enough to say, "Let's make this like Lego: same body, different drive line underneath."

And now that the Genesis line is competing with luxury vehicles Lexus and Mercedes, it's beginning to go after the performance market — vehicles like BMW's M series and Audi RS — with its Magma line. I spoke a little with Hyundai Motor Group president and chief creative officer Luc Donckerwolke about this, and the company has assembled some top-notch talent, including veteran Porsche engineer Manfred Harrer as well as BMW veteran (and recent Hyundai head of R&D) Albert Biermann.

While in Korea I was also able to visit Ulsan and tour the largest car factory in the world. No cameras allowed, unfortunately, but I did watch as vehicles were loaded onto a ship with unbelievable grace and precision: It was like one big musical number. They loaded 12 floors of cars (over 10,000 vehicles in all) in six hours.

It's important to note here that not only is Hyundai half-owned by the Korean government, but it's very well vertically integrated. Hyundai owns a steel company as well as a chip company — the latter, MegaChip, gave Hyundai a huge advantage during the supply-chain crisis.

See below for some of my video from the 2024 Busan International Mobility Show:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Major automakers plan to 'leverage public and private funds' to install electric vehicle charging network around North America



Seven car manufacturing giants are planning a joint effort to bolster electric vehicle charging infrastructure by installing a network of charging locations around North America.

BMW Group, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz Group, and Stellantis NV are the companies involved in the plan. A press release notes that the effort will "leverage public and private funds."

"The joint venture will include the development of a new, high-powered charging network with at least 30,000 chargers to make zero-emission driving even more attractive for millions of customers," the press release states. "With the generational investments in public charging being implemented on the Federal and State level, the joint venture will leverage public and private funds to accelerate the installation of high-powered charging for customers."

The plan is for the charging network to run off of renewable energy. It is anticipated that the first charging locations will open next summer.

"The first stations are expected to open in the United States in the summer of 2024 and in Canada at a later stage," the press release notes. "In line with the sustainability strategies of all seven automakers, the joint venture intends to power the charging network solely by renewable energy."

While traditional cars can quickly fill up at gas stations, electric vehicle charging is a much slower process. For instance, while filling up a typical sedan's gas tank may take just a couple of minutes, Tesla, a popular electric vehicle manufacturer, says that Superchargers can provide up to 200 miles of range in 15 minutes.

"The fight against climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. What we need now is speed – across political, social and corporate boundaries," Mercedes-Benz Group CEO Ola Källenius, said, according to the press release. "To accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, we're in favor of anything that makes life easier for our customers. Charging is an inseparable part of the EV-experience, and this network will be another step to make it as convenient as possible."

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Democrats’ Massive Climate Bill Might Violate Critical South Korean Trade Deal

accelerating the schedule by 6 months

Report: Hyundai supplier employed children as young as 12 at Alabama plant



The Hyundai supplier SMART Alabama LLC is facing scrutiny and backlash following a report from Reuters that several children, perhaps as young as 12, had been employed at the plant as recently as earlier this year.

Many first became suspicious of the hiring practices at SMART back in February when a young migrant girl from Guatemala, not yet 14 years old, went missing from her home in Enterprise, Alabama. During investigations into her disappearance, police discovered that she and her brothers, ages 12 and 15, had been working at the plant rather than attending school. Their father Pedro Tzi also confirmed to Reuters that his kids once worked at SMART.

After this information became public, Reuters contacted other SMART employees and members of the community to corroborate the stories regarding the Tzi children and to find out whether SMART had employed other underage children to work at the facility. Several of the employees confirmed that minors had been in the SMART workforce, though none could say for certain how many. Their estimates range anywhere from 12 to 50.

Though most employees interviewed by Reuters insisted on remaining anonymous, one employee, Tabatha Moultry, 39, spoke on the record and claimed that one girl who used to work at the plant "looked 11 or 12 years old."

Both SMART and Hyundai have vehemently denied the allegations.

Hyundai "does not tolerate illegal employment practices at any Hyundai entity," the company said in a statement. "We have policies and procedures in place that require compliance with all local, state and federal laws."

In a separate statement, SMART said it "denies any allegation that it knowingly employed anyone who is ineligible for employment."

Though the Alabama attorney general has not commented on the reports, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration David Michaels is furious at the possibility of child labor violations, especially at a plant which poses considerable safety risks to adults, let alone children.

"Consumers should be outraged," he said. "They should know that these cars are being built, at least in part, by workers who are children and need to be in school rather than risking life and limb because their families are desperate for income."

The young Tzi girl, whom Reuters did not name because of her age, was eventually found safe and returned to her family. All three Tzi children have now been enrolled at school for the fall.

Hyundai recalls another quarter-million automobiles after seatbelts explode, sending potentially deadly shrapnel careening through vehicle



Hyundai has issued a recall for at least 239,000 cars in the U.S. after learning that seatbelt pretensioners can explode and send shrapnel throughout the vehicle, CBS News has reported.

At least three related injuries have been reported at this time.

What are the details?

The outlet reported that U.S. government regulators advised the Korean carmaker that the vehicle's seatbelt pretensioners on both the driver's and passenger's sides "can explode upon deployment and send shrapnel throughout the vehicle."

The recall includes approximately 61,000 2019-2022 Accents as well as 166,000 2021-2024 Elantras and 12,000 2021-2022 Elantra hybrid vehicles.

Hyundai is expected to reach out to impacted owners by July 15. Owners can then visit a local Hyundai dealership for refit pretensioners at no cost to them.

Hyundai owners with any questions are encouraged to directly reach out to Hyundai customer service at (855) 371-9460 and point to recall No. 229.

In related news ...

Hyundai in early May recalled more than 200,000 2013 and 2014 Sonata sedans after learning that fuel hoses can leak into the engine compartment and cause fires. Many of those vehicles, the outlet reported, were recalled for the same reason in 2020.

In February, Hyundai and Kia advised owners of nearly a half-million vehicles to park outside and away from all buildings due to spontaneous fire risk.

At the time, manufacturers said that a defect due to "foreign contaminants" could short-circuit the anti-lock brake system, causing some vehicles to burst into flame without warning.

The Hyundai recall involved all 2014 and 2015 Tucson SUVs, 2016-2018 Santa Fe SUVs, 2017 and 2018 Santa Fe Sport SUVs, and 2019 Santa Fe XL SUV models.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests owners visit www.nhtsa.gov and enter their 17-digit VIN to see if their vehicle is impacted by any recalls.