Hyundai Motor America Targeting Minimum Average 50 mpg for Lineup by 2025
04 August 2010
Hyundai Motor America, currently the leading fuel economy auto manufacturer in the US according to EPA ratings, plans to achieve a corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) rating of at least 50 (mpg) by 2025 for its lineup of passenger cars and light duty trucks. Since becoming the fuel economy leader in the 2008 model year (average 30.9 mpg US), Hyundai Motor America’ market share is up more than 50%, the company noted.
Current National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulations require automakers to achieve a CAFE rating of 35.5 mpg by 2016. Before those rules were enacted last year, Hyundai had already announced its own plan to reach 35 mpg by 2015.
Hyundai’s plan to achieve an average of 50 mpg or better encompasses a full line of products, from small cars to larger family haulers. It leverages Hyundai’s global Blue Drive strategy (earlier post), aligning R&D resources at its engineering centers in California, Michigan, Korea, India and Germany to develop more fuel-efficient vehicle technologies. Key enablers are improvements and innovation in powertrains including gasoline direct injection, turbocharging, electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, light-weight materials and design, and more.
The 2011 Sonata, which went on sale earlier this year, features a 2.4-liter Theta II GDI 4-cylinder as its base engine, offering up to 200 hp and 35 miles per gallon on the highway. (Earlier post.) By offering only 4-cylinder engines and through other weight optimization efforts, Hyundai engineers were able to reduce the weight of the Sonata by 130 pounds.
This fall, Hyundai will launch the 2.0T 4-cylinder turbo option for the 2011 Sonata and the company’s first hybrid in the United States. The Sonata Hybrid features a 2.4-liter Theta II 4-cylinder gasoline engine mated to an electric motor-boosted 6-speed automatic transmission. The Sonata Hybrid incorporates a lithium polymer battery.
Hyundai topped the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy report for the 2008 model year. The EPA 2009 Light-Duty Automotive Technology and Fuel Economy Trends Report indicates that Hyundai has the highest 2008 model year laboratory 55/45 fuel economy at 30.9 mpg.
Forecasts show a 2009 model-year fuel economy rating of 30.1 mpg for passenger cars and light duty trucks; Hyundai is also the only automaker to top 30 mpg in the 2009 projections.
Resources
Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 Through 2009 Appendix A
I find it really interesting that Hyundai has managed to achieve this without having sold any hybrids in the US. They shouldn't have too much trouble achieving future fuel-economy goals once they start producing PHEVs and FCEVs. I'm getting the feeling that Hyundai is waiting for its competitors to experiment and make mistakes with these new technologies before implementing them in their own vehicles. This could be a good strategy, especially if Hyundai cars continue receive the acclaim they've been getting in recent years. It stands to reason that the first EVs will be the worst EVs - so maybe Hyundai is looking to profit from, and not replicate, the mistakes that may be made with upcoming plug-in releases. Or, maybe Hyundai is just playing catch-up.
Posted by: me.yahoo.com/a/1zpikb4XiffRsiaqYocEvThOqwZRrKejzZpncQ-- | 04 August 2010 at 01:06 PM
Hyundai's efforts seem to be appreciated by many with major increases in sales in USA and Canada. To achieve 30+ mpg without hybridization nor electrification is an achievement that the Big-3 claimed to be impossible not so long ago. The near future Sonata HEV will certainly be very interesting and could be one of the best mid-size HEV. Hyundai should have not problem to meet CAFE 2016 standards and could even be ahead by many mpg. CAFE may have to re-written soon.
A good hand to Hyundai for their positive efforts.
We see a lot of Sonata 2011 around. Good locking car with enough inside space. The turbo version will be an added asset.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 August 2010 at 01:31 PM
Not so hard to achieve, look a Ford Fusion hynrid is close to 40MPG combined, so improve the areo (car with 0.19 Cd is not such a big deal to get), slash some weight, use better batteries to have the hybrid drivetrain fully functional, some improvment in engine, reduced frictions, 2 cylinders or deactivated cylinders, lean combustion or direct injection. I don't think it is that spectacular to get 50MPG for the average fleet 15 years from now.
Posted by: Treehugger | 04 August 2010 at 04:12 PM
How many $Billions did Hyundai get from the Government?
Posted by: dursun | 04 August 2010 at 05:52 PM
Good question dursun. Does anybody know?
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 August 2010 at 06:16 PM
It burns me that Detroit has claimed for decades that such economy was not achievable in something the US consumer would buy. Hyundai thinks otherwise. I bet they're right, and in the next oil price shock such cars will be the only things selling.
Meanwhile, the Cadillac Escalade sets records for something not worth emulating: thefts.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 04 August 2010 at 06:48 PM
Hello silly peoples. The reason hyundai can do this is because they dont have the same market segments as ford or gm.
Its very easy to reduce your meat content if all you ever made was apple pies.
Posted by: wintermane2000 | 04 August 2010 at 07:30 PM
What the h#$% does "Hello silly peoples. The reason hyundai can do this is because they dont have the same market segments as ford or gm.
Its very easy to reduce your meat content if all you ever made was apple pies." mean?
Hyundai sells SUV's like others, if that's the 'meat'.
Just as GM lies about EV's while crushing or overpricing them - what makes ANYONE think GM knows what high gas mileage is actually achievable and that they would produce such vehicles instead of 'new' SUV's and Cameros. .
I've owned Hyundai since 1999. Friends ride in my Sonata and cringe when they return to their GM cars and try to get the CD or cruise control to work or stop the body squeaks, brake noises, etc.
GM will belly-up again as the best car wins, which may include both Hyundai and the new Fords.
Posted by: kelly | 04 August 2010 at 08:09 PM
Kelly gm makes the cars gm buyers want. Its like apple vs pc. Gm cant change thier cars all that fast because thier current buyers wont want the new cars and no one else on the planet wants a gm car unless its soo cheap the el cheapo people who will buy anything as long as its cheap go after it.
Ford has some luck in that some ford buyers have shown a willingness to change tastes in cars.
Why do you think gm is going so hell bent on erev and h2? They know they cant transition thier current buyers to anything that will pass cafe so they have to just jump and hope a new base pops up around the new kinds of cars.
Posted by: wintermane2000 | 04 August 2010 at 09:52 PM
This is 15 years from now, by that time the only Escalade GM might be selling is a downsized hybrid version. It is easy to drop models or whole divisions. One thing seems certain, most cars will be getting better gasoline mileage in 15 years.
Posted by: SJC | 04 August 2010 at 10:05 PM
Are GM Ecotec family II, Ford's EcoBoost, VW TFSI, and Hyundai Theta II all that different ?
Downsizing + CDVVT + GDI + optional Boost + optional VI + [many speed transmission or CVT] ...
Hyundai ==> 2.4-liter Theta II GDI 4-cylinder as its base engine, offering up to 200 hp and 35 miles
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/11/theta2gdi-20091117.html
GM ==> Standard 2.4L Ecotec direct injected engine rated at an estimated 182 horsepower (136 kW);
Available 2.0L Ecotec turbocharged and direct injected engine rated at an estimated 220 horsepower (164 kW) – available late-summer 2010
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/04/gms-expanding-gasoline-direct-injection-engine-portfolio.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/11/gm-reveals-2011-buick-regal-for-us-two-gasoline-directinjection-i4s-for-sport-sedan.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/06/lacrosse-20090622.html
Posted by: CelsoS | 04 August 2010 at 11:25 PM
"Why do you think gm is going so hell bent on erev and h2?"
Hell bent? GM drove their first h2/fuel cell vehicle in 1966!! http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/gm-electrovan.htm
Hell bent? GM drove their first erev vehicle in 1969!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_XP-883
Hell bent? GM leased their first EV vehicle (EV-1) for crushing in 1996!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
What GM and others have done is take every one of our tax dollars that they could bribe in federal development grants for 40 YEARS!!
Show me a hell bent GM production h2 car, erev, EV that ANYONE has purchased, rather less is driving, at their GM dealership during FORTY years.
We have been and are being lied to and sandbagged by someone.
Take a guess..
Posted by: kelly | 05 August 2010 at 05:38 AM
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 05 August 2010 at 05:48 AM
GM hasn't learned their lesson yet. We will all suffer for it.
Posted by: Lucas | 05 August 2010 at 08:08 AM
It bugs me that car companies and the media all just use hwy mileage in these articles, when most of the driving public does at least 60% of their driving with a city profile.
I'd rather see how Hyundai stacks up in city mileage or 60/40 combined. A mid sized 4 cylinder usually get's low 20's for mileage, and this is where hybrids really outperform.
Posted by: Justin VP | 05 August 2010 at 09:24 AM
Kelly may be get very close to the truth.
Very good point Justin.
GM is not making cars that buyers really want. Their share of the market has been going down for decades for some reasons.
Posted by: HarveyD | 05 August 2010 at 10:00 AM
Frankly id be realy shocked if gm still existed in 2025.
Posted by: wintermane2000 | 05 August 2010 at 10:04 AM
It won't be around, in the US by 2015, if it doesn't replace all of it's top management and engineers.
They need youthful imagination.
Posted by: Lucas | 05 August 2010 at 01:11 PM
I believe they have good engineers, upper and middle management has gone and the rest must go. If they have been there too long, they have become part of the problem.
Posted by: SJC | 05 August 2010 at 02:37 PM
GM brain washed itself into falsely believing that what was good for GM was good for all users. Had it not been for the government GM would have gone chapter 7 almost 2 years ago. May be they should have been liquidated. USA has surplus car building capacity.
Posted by: HarveyD | 05 August 2010 at 03:11 PM
There is a corporate phenomena where they all start believing their own B.S. G.M. issued a LOT of corporate press release announcements before getting into trouble. They made it sound like they would be around for a century and long term planning was all they did.
Posted by: SJC | 05 August 2010 at 05:30 PM
If you don't build trucks and don't build any cars larger than D-segment cars, and bias your cars that you do build to B and C-segment vehicles, this fuel economy target is obtainable.
It is actually a conservative projection.
But that assumes anyone will give a damn about liquid fossil fuel economy in 2025. That is highly unlikely. OPEC will have long since collapsed, as will liquid fossil fuel prices, or their synthetic competitors. They will have returned to cost of production or manufacture, in the face of massive supply.
Posted by: Stan Peterson | 05 August 2010 at 06:30 PM
Gm is a truck company I realy dont think they can be anything else.
Posted by: wintermane2000 | 05 August 2010 at 07:12 PM
Stan thinks that liquid fuel demand will collapse faster than supply (there is no way that synthetic supply can expand as fast as production declines). I'd like some of what he's smoking.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 05 August 2010 at 07:46 PM
OPEC will still be going strong 15 years from now. It is how strong and how much influence that they will have, that will be determined by what we do from now on.
Posted by: SJC | 05 August 2010 at 08:07 PM