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What a strike in Korea could mean for US Hyundai and Kia buyers

A prolonged factory strike at Hyundai-Kia factories in South Korea could mean that US dealership inventory of certain vehicles, such as the South Korea-built Hyundai Accent and Kia Soul, could dry up in the coming months, depending on the length of the strike, reports Cars.com's blog, Kicking Tires. The two brands together rank sixth in US sales and fifth in global sales.
Kicking Tires gives fascinating insight into how a production stoppage in South Korea might affect vehicle sales in the US, considering Hyundai-Kia has two factories in the US that build the Kia Sorento and Optima/Optima Hybrid, and the Hyundai Elantra sedan/coupe/GT, Sonata/Sonata Hybrid and Santa Fe/Santa Fe Sport. The only one of these vehicles that's built solely in the US is the Kia Sorento, with the rest of them sharing production with South Korea.
Be sure to read the piece, especially if you're in the market for a Hyundai or Kia, or just interested in global economics.

Kia unveils Horki sub-brand in China, kicks off with concept car

While we were busy ogling new vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz GLA Concept, Maserati Ghibli and Hongqi L9 at the Shanghai Motor Show, Kia was busy unveiling an entire brand. Through its Chinese joint venture, Dongfeng Yueda Kia (or DYK), the South Korean automaker has introduced its new Horki sub-brand and a concept car, simply called the Horki Concept.
The name Horki comes from the combination of two Chinese characters "Hor" and "Ki," which translates to "China driving." As this suggests, the brand will only be offered in China, and this concept sedan shares its platform with the 2014 Kia Forte. We didn't happen to catch the car live at the auto show, and apparently neither did Kia, since it only provided us with some drawings rather than live (or even studio) shots of the actual concept car. Thankfully, our friends at Newspress managed to ferret it out, so we have a couple of live pics to share after all.

Rumored Kia Soul EV spied for the first time

Up until now, we've only heard rumors about an all-electric version of the second-generation Kia Soul, but these spy shots seem to confirm that the Korean automaker is developing a zero-emission version of its quirky little box-back. Our most recent report has the Kia EV showing up in the first half of next year (likely for MY 2015) with a starting price of around $35,000 (presumably before tax credits) and a range of about 120 miles.
While the front and rear of this prototype remains heavily camouflaged, we can see some differences between this car and the 2014 Soul we saw earlier in the year at the New York Auto Show. For starters, the entire front end seems to be changed, including the hood, headlights and fascia, and we would expect Kia's so-called Tiger Nose grille to be blocked off for improved aerodynamics. Further supporting our shooter's claims that this is an electric vehicle is the fact that the Soul's exhaust pipe is missing from beneath the rear fascia.
Previous reports have indicated that the Soul EV will become "the very-first electic vehicle to be sold in the global market, including the US, Europe and China." It would appear that claim may be validated by technicality only - Nissan sells its Leaf in the US and Europe, and it will reportedly be sold as the Dongfeng Fengshen E30 in China.