Kia Niro EV specs revealed at latest Korean car show

2019 Kia Niro EVThe Kia Niro EV made its first appearance at the Busan auto show this week and Kia confirmed the car will offer a battery with up to 236 miles of range. The company showed a concept version of the car at the Consumer Electronics Show in January with wildly updated head and tail lights and trim details. Then it appeared in Korea at an electric...

“Electric cars are disasters; they are evil,” says Hyundai union head

2019 Hyundai Kona Electric“Electric cars are disasters. They are evil." Not something you'd hear every day, certainly not from a powerful executive in the auto industry. Yet those are the words of Ha Bu-young, head of the Hyundai motor union, both the largest and the most powerful union in South Korea. DON'T MISS: UAW wakes up to job threat posed by electric cars, as...

Hyundai-Kia: eight electric cars by 2022, dedicated EV platform

2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric - frame from video road testIt's long been said in the auto industry that Hyundai-Kia is the only competitor that truly scares industry colossus Toyota. Thirty years ago, the Korean company was a bit player, producing designs adapted from obsolete Mitsubishi technology. Today it's a major global player, reacting fast to market swings—and its goal is to be second only...

South Korea to extend electric-car subsidy to long-range vehicles too

2017 Tesla Model SSouth Korea currently offers electric-car subsidies, but only to shorter-range vehicles. This somewhat unusual provision was put in place in 2012, the government says, to encourage sales of electric cars with convenient charging times. Under the current rule, electric cars that can fully charge in under 10 hours on standard household current...

Koreans add to Chevy confusion chorus over Bolt, Volt names

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EVThere's no getting around the fact that the words "bolt" and "volt" sound similar. So Chevrolet was likely inviting confusion when it decided to name its 238-mile electric car the Bolt EV, while continuing to offer the Volt plug-in hybrid. It's easy for English speakers to confuse "B" and "V" sounds on occasion, after all. DON'T MISS: Why 'Bolt'...