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Hyundai to launch battery electric car in 2016

The Hyundai BlueOn EV (pictured) was Hyundai’s last electric car Back in 2011 it seemed that Hyundai was to concentrate on building hydrogen powered and hybrid cars as it looked to the future, but that seems to have changed. Back then, Hyundai Motors head of R&D - Yang Woong-Chul – said he believed BEVs (battery electric vehicles) had zero chance of replacing ICE cars because of their poor range, poor battery technology and high costs. But it seems Hyundai has had a rethink.

ESP could save 380 lives a year

By Ben Shacham Motor Industry 19 June 2007 12:24 The campaign to make electronic stability control (ESC) standard on all new cars by 2012 is gathering momentum - and it could save 380 lives a year, say ministers. The UK's Department for Transport today claimed that hundreds of lives could be saved every year if all new cars had stability control fitted - totalling 4000 lives across Europe. A campaign to raise awareness of the potential benefits of ESC was launched last month in Rome by European commissioners and FIA president Max Mosley.

VW Phaeton - the new one coming in 2015

A brand new Volkswagen Phaeton Mk2 will be launched in 2015, based on a new architecture being masterminded by cousins Audi. Dubbed VW631, the new VW Phaeton will be based on MLM Evo (modular longitudinal matrix) which makes provision for a plug-in hybrid option, an aluminium-intensive body structure and a much more advanced and less nose-heavy dynamic layout. Although VW chairman Martin Winterkorn has in the past black-flagged the Avantissimo (A8-based) and the Passat Variant Plus (A6-derived), there is still a lot to be said for a second more practical bodystyle in addition to the four-door notch which is almost compulsory in this segment.