Are you ready to start out Monday by having your mind blown? The original Kia Sportage sold in America could have easily been a Ford and, had things gone differently, Kia would have been owned by the Detroit automaker instead of part of a larger group with Hyundai. This was a good outcome for Kia and, perhaps, an even better outcome for Hyundai.
Hyundai and Kia sell roughly identical lineups in the United States, though each has their own distinct aesthetic. There are two big differences between the lineups, and those seem to favor Kia right now. The Morning Dump is all about surprising outcomes, and one is that the great Chinese EV expansion might not be going quite as well as you might expect as consumers in other Asian countries are a little wary about China.
EV growth has been strong in Europe, but that won’t stop EU lawmakers from supporting its own automakers. At the same time, there’s mixed support in America for its own homegrown company.
Let’s end on a mystery. Why did Carvana, the massive online used car retailer built to disrupt traditional dealerships… buy a dealership?
It’s Van Time, America
Last year, Hyundai outsold Kia in the United States by about 40,000 vehicles. Through the first two months of 2025, Kia has sold 120,310 vehicles. Hyundai, its sister brand, has sold 116,535. This is a small difference, and it’s quite possible that Hyundai will end up on top again this year.
It’s an interesting scenario, though, and I have a theory as to why this is happening. First, though, a little history. South Korea’s Kia began, like many Asian car companies, by building licensed copies of someone else’s design. For Kia, this meant Honda motorcycles, Mazda trucks, and even some Fiats and Peugeots.
With the fall of South Korea’s military dictatorship, there was a new enthusiasm in the country and a desire for global trade. Because Mazda and Kia had a relationship, and Ford and Mazda had a relationship, this meant that Ford and Kia were linked. The Ford Festiva, sold here, was also a Kia Pride or Mazda 121 in other markets. Eventually, Mazda and Kia would develop a platform for the Japanese Bongo and the small Kia Sportage, which Kia wanted to sell in the United States. Could the Sportage have given us a pre-Escape Ford variant? That’s the rumor, though allegedly Ford was worrying about cannibalizing Explorer sales.
The Sportage was one of the earliest small crossover SUVs in the United States and found a real audience here. Unfortunately, the Asian financial crisis of the late ’90s hit Kia hard and the company was forced to reorganize. Ford was one of the bidders for Kia, but Hyundai ultimately ended up owning more than half of its one-time competitor. Unlike the Volkswagen-Audi relationship, for instance, Kia isn’t exactly a brand of Hyundai. They’re independent companies, though Hyundai is still the largest shareholder and the two companies develop platforms together.
Even though they’re “independent,” the companies sell mostly the same cars built on the same platforms in most markets. Kia has the EV6 and Hyundai has the Ioniq 5. Kia has the Telluride and Hyundai has the Palisade. The biggest difference between those, for most customers, is how they look.
There are some lineup variations. For instance, Kia sells the EV9 but Hyundai doesn’t have the Ioniq 9 for sale quite yet, I feel like this is cancelled out, though, by the fact that Hyundai has the Ioniq 6 and Kia doesn’t yet have the equivalent.
The biggest difference, and the one I think is key, is that Hyundai sells an expensive small truck in the form of the Santa Cruz and Kia sells a reasonably priced minivan in the form of the Carnival. I love the Carnival, and am excited that there’s now a hybrid variant. I also really like the Santa Cruz. Abstractly, you might assume that a truck being sold in a bodystyle without a lot of competitors would outsell a minivan that has a lot of competition, but that’s not what happened.
Let’s look at the math. Through this year, Kia has sold 8,105 Carnivals. Hyundai has sold 3,724 Santa Cruzes. That’s a difference of 4,381 vehicles. The difference between Kia and Hyundai sales this year so far? 3,775 vehicles. That’s pretty close!
I think it’s reasonable that Kia and Hyundai looked at these two relatively niche markets and decided that, unlike crossovers, it wasn’t going to try and sell two small trucks and two minivans. What’s interesting to me is that the Santa Cruz, which when it was launched seemed like a no-brainer to me, has only had middling sales. The Carnival, which is in a more crowded space, has been a hit for Kia.
Besides design, I think cost is a big differentiator. The Santa Cruz has only one real competitor in the form of the Ford Maverick, but the Maverick launched at a price that was thousands of dollars cheaper. At the same time, the Maverick offers a hybrid and the Santa Cruz does not. This is the inverse for the Carnival. You can get the Carnival as a hybrid and, while it’s priced roughly the same as other vans, availability has meant that many buyers are likely to get a Carnival for less than a comparably equipped Sienna.
While it makes sense to me to not compete with itself in this market, I still want the company to try for no other reason than I like vans. What I’m saying is that Hyundai should sell the Staria here. More vans please! I’d also take a Kia version of the Santa Cruz in a hybrid. K, thx.
Vinfast Is Killing China In Its Home Market
The threat of Chinese automakers blowing up markets with heavily-subsidized, cheaply-produced electric cars is real. That being said, Chinese brands aren’t as strong in other places as you might guess. My favorite example is in England, where the historically British (though Chinese-owned) MG is killing it, but the many other Chinese brands are merely doing fine.
VinFast, despite stumbles here, is doing quite well selling cheap EVs in its home market of Vietnam according to Bloomberg:
VinFast, with its expanding network of proprietary charging stations and an entry level mini EV that costs around $11,700, is easily outselling Chinese rivals. Of the nearly 91,500 EVs sold in the country last year, more than 87,000 were VinFast models. However many of those sales were to VinFast-related parties, in particular the nation’s largest taxi service, Green and Smart Mobility JSC, which is 95% owned by VinFast founder Pham Nhat Vuong.
Besides cost and a huge local advantage, there are other reasons why VinFast is doing better than companies like BYD:
“It’s not practical to own a Chinese EV in Vietnam,” said Thinh Hanh, a 41-year old Hanoi resident who came to the VinFast showroom to look for a VF 6 model with his brother. Thinh has been driving a VF 9 since 2023 and likes the high level of personalization it provides that gasoline cars couldn’t offer. “There’s a lack of charging stations to suit Chinese cars.”
There’s also lingering reluctance to buy Chinese in light of historic tensions between the two Communist countries. “People are a bit concerned because this is a Chinese brand,” said Dong Hai, a salesman at Chery Automobile Co.’s showroom in Hanoi.
Some of this is extremely regional. When I spoke to buyers at the MG and BYD stands at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK last year, it didn’t seem like people were that concerned about the cars being from Chinese automakers.
Europe Wants Its EV Batteries To Be More European
Europe’s electric car market has undergone a bit of a whiplash effect over the last few years, especially as countries have intermittently promoted and then pulled support for EV subsidies. This year EV sales are way up for pretty much everyone that isn’t Tesla, even if the batteries come from everywhere but Europe.
It doesn’t help that one of the EU’s big battery projects, Northvolt, had to get bailed out.
Now the EU is looking for ways to increase the European content of batteries sold on the European continent according to Reuters:
The European Commission will present measures next week meant to boost demand for electric vehicles (EVs)in the European Union, and envisages local content requirements for car battery production, according to a draft of the proposals.
The EU executive will publish its automotive action plan on March 5 to help ensure EU car producers can electrify their fleets and compete with more advanced Chinese and U.S. rivals.
The “U.S. rivals” bit is interesting. Ford does sell electric cars in Europe, though I think a lot of this has to do with Tesla. At some point in the future I might write a piece about how Europe ending fines on electric cars could inadvertently… or maybe not so inadvertently… harm Tesla.
This concern has shifted to the United States where the head of one of America’s largest unions is implying that, hey, maybe asset managers should by more wary of Tesla’s prospects. Why? The concern is that the people who run the funds that their members are invested in aren’t seeing that Tesla could be in trouble because they don’t want to get on the President’s bad side.
Investors initially seemed to reward Tesla for Trump’s victory, though much of those gains have been wiped out. Where this goes is anyone’s guess.
Carvana Buys A Dealership
60 days ago:
I asked Carvana’s CEO, Ernie Garcia, if he would EVER consider acquiring a traditional dealership.
(FYI – Carvana just acquired a traditional dealership yesterday)
Here was his response at the time: pic.twitter.com/Bj7ZOoQY9l
— Car Dealership Guy (@GuyDealership) February 28, 2025
Here’s a weird one for you. Carvana, the massive online used car retailer, has purchased a Stellantis dealership franchise in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Carvana bought Jerry Seiner Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Casa Grande, Ariz. — roughly 45 miles south of Tempe, Ariz., where the company is headquartered. Carvana confirmed the deal to Automotive News. A transaction price was not disclosed.
A Carvana spokesperson provided the following statement via email to Automotive News:
“We’re always experimenting and this is a small test in a single market. We are excited to join the Stellantis network and our focus in this test will be learning how to provide great customer experiences at a franchise dealership — we don’t expect it to have any noticeable impact to our results for the foreseeable future.”
Why did they do this? A couple of months ago, Car Dealership Guy asked Carvana about exactly this scenario and CEO Ernie Garcia was somewhat dismissive. Within CDG’s question was the answer to why this might be happening: Inventory. Quite simply, Carvana needs cars to sell, and while its model is designed to do an end-run around dealerships by offering an easier experience, car dealers get a lot of vehicles.
This will be fun to watch.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I love a good FU Break Up song. Here’s Chappel Roan with “My Kink Is Karma” if you enjoy a vengeful ex, clown makeup, and roller blades. “No need to be hateful in your fake Gucci sweater” is such a good burn.
The Big Question
Why do you think Kia is outselling Hyundai so far? Is it just some boring availability/design thing? The Kia Soul? Design?
Top photo: Kia
“At the same time, the Maverick offers a hybrid and the Santa Cruz does not. This is the inverse for the Carnival. You can get the Carnival as a hybrid”
Clearly with them being platform mates you would assume they would just drop the hybrid drivetrain into the Sante Cruz and have a valid competitor to the Maverick Hybrid. This seems like a no-brainer for product management. It’s almost as silly as the Maverick not being offered with AWD on the hybrid platform at introduction despite being on the Escape platform- which had AWD and a hybrid.
While minivans are sort of niche now, Kia is also well-established in the minivan space, having been in it since 2002. Their commitment to the segment has ebbed and flowed, they came in hot with the 2nd gen in 2006 (back in peak minivan), but skipped a model year in 2013. There’s been a lot more marketing push for the Carnival than I can remember the previous (3rd gen) Sedona ever having. I don’t think hybrids make up enough share to be the sales driver, although it’s only going to help as they do get more of them out there.
The Staria is probably going to be too weird for the average minivan buyer here – it’s taller than something like a Tahoe and I don’t believe it has a fold-in-floor 3rd row.
Hyundai is probably the last stop for anyone considering a smaller truck. The Maverick may be its only “true” competitor, but for Santa Cruz prices a regular midsizer doesn’t seem far off and I imagine even some used ones might get thrown into consideration.
I mentioned below but it seems like Hyundai is taking the approach Honda did with the Ridgeline for a while, which gets updates but hasn’t had a full redesign in years. In the last few years they have started marketing it more and sales have risen accordingly, 2023 was its best-ever sales year, but for a while it was just like “we make a pickup, if you even care.”
Yeah Hyundai needs to sell the Staria here 😀
what is most surprising is with Kia and Hyundai’s shear number of EV only and Hybrid options, how is it that they do not have an electric or even hybrid Santa Cruz optional? There is a cooler space where a spare tire might be in most other cars that would fit an adequately sized battery to make a Hybrid pretty simply. They also tend to undercut others on price, so it would seem they could cut out some of the basic tech doodads and offer a bare bones work mini-ute or Elcamino to most of use. But with Ford realizing they can no longer bait and switch on even the few 20K units they allowed out, it makes even less sense to not have a Santa Cruz with 20-30 miles of battery only range. And then trump Ford and put an Ioniq 5 driver train under one and slip a full BEV option in for those still enamored with that route.
They’re almost certainly focusing supply of their hybrids on volume products – hybrid Tucsons and Sportages are more important when CR-V and RAV4 are on such a hybrid push. Hybrid Santa Fe seems to be getting a bigger push with the redesign too, which there aren’t a ton of 3-row hybrid options out there.
I don’t think they’re aiming for volume on the Santa Cruz (if they ever really were), seems like they’re taking the Honda Ridgeline approach which has gotten several updates along the way but still the same basic roots for like 9 years now.
I’d argue it’s design. They’re very future forward, and when they aren’t (Telluride) they are spot on nonetheless.
I’m not completely sure, but isn’t the Hyundai Venue the same thing as Kia Soul? Yet (in my humble opinion) the Venue looks awkward whereas the Soul is a cheerful sort of dorkiness. And, not bothering to do a deep dive, but a quick search tells me the Soul is cheaper.
I agree with some of the comments below that Hyundai styling may have just gotten a little too weird. And it’s not like Kia is exactly conservative with theirs.
I would have guessed you were right, but after googling it looks like the Soul shares the platform as the Kona, not the Venue. The Venue is on the same platform as the Seltos apparently. Which is kind of weird, cause a Kona looks way more like a Seltos and a Venue looks way more like a Soul
It makes a little more sense when you throw the Niro in the mix. The Kona and Niro are incredibly similar, and the Niro, in turn, seems pretty similar to the Soul in some ways. But it does seem a little weird. Would have thought all of them would ride on that platform.
I would have never guessed that, the Seltos is bigger than the Soul and the Venue! How confusing. Perhaps that’s why the Venue looks odd to me, they’ve contorted it to fit on another platform when it might have been better to just restyle the Soul.
I think for all of them it’s just a matter of what is available in inventory and what is cheaper to buy at the time. The Venue doesn’t seem like it’s ever had a ton of push behind it in marketing or incentives; an Elantra can probably work out to cost less with incentives, or a Kona almost the same. Kia positioned the Soul as their core cheap & small offering early on and sold more than the Forte for many years, but that seems to have shifted in recent years.
When the Maverick and the Cruz were announced, I compared the specs and the price. The Maverick was, for me, the best value. I haven’t driven a Cruz, but on paper at least the Maverick was much better for the money. I haven’t compared them recently though, and I know Maverick prices have increased.
Hyundai having the ugly Ioniq 6 on their lots is not a point in their favor, IMNSHO. Ditto the new Santa Fe with that hideous rear. Honestly, I think Kia is largely crushing Hyundai in the design department right now, which probably has a lot to do with it.
Although your mention of the Soul is valid too. The Soul is a good, cheap car in a market where there isn’t a lot of that. I’d be curious to know how the Soul sales numbers factor into this reversal of fortunes.
I’m betting if you talked to buyers at a Tesla dealer right now you’d find that they’re largely not concerned about Elon Musk either. That doesn’t mean no one is.
I kind of want a Santa Cruz, just so I could put some mailbox stickers from the hardware store on it, the letters L and A specifically. I’d put them over the R in CRUZ. Because then I’d be driving a SANTA CLAUZ
I love my Stinger and outside of the turbo oil feed line recall (which I promptly had repaired), I haven’t had any problems.
I had a family member with a zombie Rio that wouldn’t die from the Kia Malaise Era and despite not being taken care of and being regularly thrashed, it lasted FOREVER. I’m pretty sure it still ran and functioned when it was traded in (for like $12)
Factory freaks and factory weaks, indeed.
Hyundai has kinda positioned their self further up market then Kia. When they first did it the price was basically the same at most dealers but I think Hyundais stickers had gone up maybe $1k – $2k over the kia. That delta seems to have increased. It makes sense what Hyundai did it’s just they maybe with the launch of Genesis as a separate band kinda sandwiched themselves. It seems like most of the models are all different enough that people will prefer one to another it’s just if they Hyundai is $2k more in this economy Kia may win just for that. The kia trucklet for $20k would do well I think. They could probably do it in a way that its more towards work vs the Hyundai more leasure.
I wish HyundaiKia well but I’ll never buy another. We were originally a Kia family having owned a 1997 Sephora, 2004 Rio and 2004 Sedona. Very solid and reliable until the 2017 Tucson came along.
Piece of trash.
Oil consumption at 35000 miles. More than enough issues with the DCT. We learned our lesson. Hyundai has forgotten to build engines and transmissions that last and are reliable. One look in the back of ANY Hyundai or Kia dealership will prove my point. Those large plastic containers all stacked up next to the back of the service or parts department at a dealer near you are engine cores from vehicles whose engines crapped out way before they should have.
Junk.
All I can say is anyone who buys one of these Korean vehicles needs to go to church and pray that their engine will last as long as their monthly payments do.
Best of luck.
Did you get one of those crazy deals in 2004 where you buy the van and get the free car? I’ve always been tempted by those but never done it. It does seem while the plastics and maybe body is more quality the drive trains have had some issues.
That’s been my experience as well. My 2010 Genesis Coupe was on it’s 3rd engine when I got rid of it. My spouse’s 2012 Optima had a replacement 2 years ago under the recall, and my 2016 Sorento is falling apart.
I’m done with ICE powered Kia/Hyundais, and I advise others to steer clear as well.
My SiL’s 2016 Tuscon with the turbo 1.6 and DCT hadd piston #3 join NASA around 90k miles. However because she was the second owner, the warranty ended at 50k. Those cars are steaming piles of shit
K5 vs Sonata. K4 vs Elantra. Sportage vs Tucson. Telluride vs Palisade. The Kias are all better looking with the same warranty. I’m looking forward to the K4 hatchback.
That along with the Carnival will put a hurting on Hyundai.
It does seem like Kia’s business model, for some time now, has been to sell better-looking versions of Hyundai’s platforms at very slightly cheaper prices
As far as business models go, it’s a pretty good one!
As long as you can keep getting the company you’re undercutting to subsidize your product development. 🙂
Is there still a financing disparity between Hyundai and Kia?
I always seem to associate Kia with the lower-credit scores, though I admit their vehicles seem far more desirable to me than Hyundai.
Perhaps from all the headlines about Hyundai/Kia theft, or that their dealers are usually connected or next door to each other, they exist in my mind as one entity.
The vinfast situation is funny they are all over Vietnam. They seem to love the vf3 in the smaller cities where in the bigger cities the bigger more luxury one are more prevalent. Vietnam wants to stand independent while I think that might be part of it it seems like vinfasts line really fits Vietnams market. They just need a little truck and they are supposed to launch one soon. In the west we tend to forget or not even know that Vietnam and China fought a war in 1979 where Vietnam won. They also liberated Cambodia from pol pot around the same time. Now they have some skirmishes with the Chinese in the South China sea and an the infamous 9 dash line. So they arent budy budy with china and seem to reach out to the Russians Europeans and now the US for technical assistance. It seems like vinfast has some people who worked for bmw in some of their design language and interfaces.
I bought a 24 Carnival when my wife was in an accident and we’re a one car household. We were planning to get a Sienna later in the year but when the accident occurred we couldn’t wait. It’s been great and frankly I don’t think I’m missing out.
She wanted the Sienna for its AWD, but with snow tires the Carnival is great in the white stuff.
While I’d love a BEV Santa Cruz sadly the climate I live in (below freezing half the year) combined with my lack of a Garage, let alone LVL 2 home charging I’m pretty sure the Nissan Leaf is the only electric car that’ll reliably charge on 120v in such conditions.
I just wish Nissan would have brought the eNV200 to the US, it’s a BEV van with the Leaf drivetrain, I would have driven the hell out of one.
When I was in Norway I saw several and every time I saw one I nerded out over them, such awesome compact BEV vans.
We’ve got a Bolt, charge it outside in the driveway off of a normal 120v outlet, and only have 3 months a year where the average low temp is above freezing. Charging efficiency certainly gets worse at well below freezing temps, especially at 8amps (12amps seems quite a bit better), but we haven’t had any real issues down to -25F. If it stays above 0F, and we set to 12amps, any loss in charging compared to warmer temps isn’t really noticeable. I would think that any of the smaller, ~60kWh battery pack EVs would be ok as long as you have a 15amp circuit to use, and aren’t driving 50+ miles a day.
I appreciate the info. While it regularly dips into the negatives (F) it is generally pretty cold while still being not in the negatives most of the time.
From what I’ve seen the Leaf actually excels in winter conditions battery temp and charging wise, outofspec reviews did testing with deep freezing Leafs and a Tesla and compared the time it took for each to take a charge after being frozen. Tesla took 45 minutes hooked up to a supercharger with all that energy spent on heating up the battery before it took a single percent of charge. Leaf: <7 minutes.
Sure, it’s certainly hard to find info out there, even at more normal temperatures. It seems like AC, L1 and L2, charging generally just works in the cold, but the DC L3 is a crapshoot. The other thing that helps is plugging in at home just after driving, when the battery is already somewhat warmer.
Ok. A few things to address here. You can’t compare charging in cold weather at a Supercharger to charging at 120V or even 240V at a home. Charging at 150kwh (supercharger V3) vs 8kwh (240V@32amps) vs 1.44kw has a very different impact on the battery.
If you try and push 150kwh into a frozen battery, you will severely damage the battery. High power superchargers require the battery to be 50-60F before ramping to up to 150kw. Tesla has strongly prioritized warming the battery before ramping up from a trickle. The smaller Leaf battery weighs less so it warms up faster and the Leaf also takes a max of only 50kwh charge rate so it can start charging the battery safely at a much lower temperature than the Tesla.
But this is talking about high power DC charging. Things are a lot less stressful at 120V/240V. When charging at 120V/240V the battery does not need to be heated up as much (or at all) to be able to accept the 1.44kw/8kwh safely. So charging can start pretty much immediately even when the battery is cold. The charging process will slow warm the battery without damaging the battery.
I have fully charged both a Focus EV and Ioniq EV from nearly empty in -25C weather with 120V without any problem. I have a 240V/32amp charger as well, so whichever car is parked at the back of the driveway gets the benefit of 240V.
The Leaf Battery also is passively air cooled, resulting in less thermal mass to heat up/keep at the optimal temp.
Good to know. From what I’ve seen most BEVs experience pretty massive range losses in the winter if the battery is cold, because on 99% of BEVs the battery pack is liquid cooled and the BEV hardly produces any waste heat, so the batteries don’t get up to their optimal temperature.
The other side of that coin is that the Leaf Battery preforms awful in hot climates because of the lower thermal mass and it’s inability to actively shed the heat, so it gets too hot and stays too hot.
99% of my driving will be in town for jaunts to the grocery store and such, which for ICE is too short for them to get up to temp naturally, and same for basically every BEV but the Leaf. With most BEVs having ~5x as much coolant as an equivalent ICE vehicle and a fraction of the waste heat for my driving I doubt that they could get up to temp naturally before I park them.
When asked for comment on the sale of his dealership, Jerry Seiner, owner/operator of Jerry Seiner CDJR replied, “hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha”
Basically how I feel about Herb Chambers selling his dealership empire up here in the Northeast. These former owners are gettin out when the gettin is good.
I guess you can’t blame them if someone is knocking on your door with cash to buy.
Higher interest rates, continued supply chain problems, uncertain regulatory environment and a public clamoring for more direct sales options. Get out while you can and sell to some sucker.
Clearly the reason for the Kia sales lead is the 23,000+ K4s that Kia has sold this year as the great American cheap sedan resurgence takes hold.
This. The Elantra has been around for a few years now and isn’t to everybody’s taste anyway. The K4 is newer, nicer and cheap.
That’s definitely a reason, although the Kia K4 is only selling a little better than the outgoing Kia Forte (about 3K more) whereas the Elantra, which is being heavily discounted, is way up year-over-year. That’s why the headline is “one” reason. It’s obviously very complex when you go model-by-model.
I’ll take all the positive data on non-SUV sales that we can get in hopes of holding off the complete boring crossover takeover for another year.
I ain’t gonna lie… my brain has been thinking that Kia is the parent company for a while now. Not sure why, but Kia has been #1 for a couple years now.
The only reason I can muster is the legacy reputation of Hyundai since they have existed in the US. I feel like, due to the longer history, it’s going to take (or is taking) a longer time for Hyundai to get away from the “cheap car” reputation. Meanwhile, I have forgotten that Kia once sucked.
At least for me, I prefer Kia’s styling. Hyundai has gone way too far for most of their vehicles. Also, they offer so much choice on so many of their models. Just thinking of my wife’s Sorento, you can get two different gas powertrains, a hybrid, and a PHEV with the same vehicle layout. I believe the Sportage is similar.
I think they’re falling off a bit. One of the deciding factors in my buying a leftover 2024 Forte GT instead of a K4 GT-Line Turbo is that the Forte is just a prettier car overall.
Yeah I think the K4 hatch looks much better than either the sedan or the Forte, but no word on its arrival here other than “it’s coming”. I don’t mind the sedan though, you rarely see carmakers going for it like that in a low-end segment.
Kia keeps enjoying the adult and elegant influence of Peter Schreir, a talented designer. Hyundai, on the other hand, keeps selling cars designed by teenagers.
I like the look of the Santa Cruz. A Kia PHEV Santa Cruz would be great!
The Kia Soul is classified as a station wagon. How many other new cars have this classification? I’m not sure.
Some ICE Kia’s do have an oiling problem.
Worried about that then buy an EV.
My Soul runs on syn oil and has 188k on it. Of course it could croak tomorrow, but I could as well. ( No jinks).
Europe understands that now that the U.S. is basically a puppet state or Russia’s that they best prepare.
I beg you not to look up “Nordstream 2”
Yes, but which puppet? I’m thinking ERIC (not Trump, but the miniseries) but in reality we’re more like Big Bird.
Probably more like Punch from an old Punch & Judy show. And Judy is Zelenskyy, sadly.
I was thinking sock, but in the vein of a teenage boy rather than White Fang & Black Tooth.
In my head, all I hear is Scar and the Nazi hyena’s singing “Be prepared…”
If you read the lyrics, it’s practically tailored for the dynamic duo of Trump & Musk.
You’d have thought that Trumps first term would have taught them better. Apparently not.
They made the very poor assumption that no group of people would be so stupid as to double down. They underestimated the stupidity of the average American.
Oscar Levant is vindicated once again.
In some cases, maybe. In this case, it is just a plain old combination of ignorance and arrogance mixed in with long-standing traditions of over-the-top bigotry.
I was actually thinking of the quote “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”, but I misattributed it to Oscar Levant instead of H.L. Mencken.
That is actually very funny! The Levant quote I thought you were referencing was “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.”
I’d be more interested to know why Hyundai and Kia engines can’t seem to oil themselves properly compared to other makes.
They 710 the road real good…
I wonder if there is a simple preventative fix for new Hyundai/Kia owners. Like e.g., installing a new oil pump right after you buy the car or whatever. Similar to that article from Mercedes a while back on how replacing one cheap OEM part with an aftermarket part can make a Pentastar engine last longer.