Eco-Friendly Automobiles Future of Hyundai-Kia
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
The war is already on for eco-friendly vehicles, with particular kinds of products emerging as key to survival in the future due to ongoing global warming and fossil fuel exhaustion.
Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the nation's biggest automaker, is not free from the pending issue. The company recently announced the early mass production of low-carbon vehicles in a new long-term growth strategy.
Last month saw meaningful development in the maker's technology. A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle self-developed by Hyundai-Kia completed a cross-country U.S. trip of 4,000 kilometers from Portland to Los Angeles.
Models from most global players in the business participated in the tour but only four of them, including Hyundai-Kia, made it to the end. This shows it now owns an advanced level of eco-friendly vehicles, the Korean maker said.
Hyundai-Kia set off the development of cleaner cars about 20 years ago, and fully entered into the development of hybrid and fuel cell vehicles in the late 1990s.
Its hybrid vehicle technology, part of a rapidly growing market which is likely to reach 1 to 1.5 million vehicles worldwide in 2010, is now assessed to be nearing the level of mass production.
Since first unveiling its FGV-1, the first hybrid concept model, at the biennial Seoul Motor Show in 1995, the company succeeded in developing its sequel FGV-2 and the hybrid edition of the Avante sedan in 1999 and the hybrid version of the Verna in 2000. It has provided the government with 350 hybrid vehicles since 2004.
The Korean company has made an ambitious move to secure its position as an eco-friendly producer in the near future. It is planning to launch the world's first LPG-based hybrid edition of its Avante sedan next summer, before expanding its overall hybrid capacity to 30,000 vehicles by 2010.
Hyundai-Kia expects 2,200 new jobs to be created through the plan.
In addition, Hyundai-Kia is also aiming at the early commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
One of its latest models, i-Blue, is the first exclusive fuel-cell model of the maker. First introduced at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, the vehicle can reach 165 kilometers per hour and cover as many as 600 kilometers with one battery recharging.