South Korea’s foreign minister headed to the U.S. Monday morning to move forward with plans to release hundreds of South Korean nationals arrested last week while working on the construction of a $7.6 billion Hyundai battery plant in Georgia. The move came just days after the Korean carmaker upped investment plans for the U.S. to $26 billion — and threatens to chill relations between the U.S. and one of its staunchest allies. Headlight.News has more.
Hundreds of employees of LG Energy Solution, a South Korean battery maker, were taken into custody in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant being built outside Savannah, Georgia, officials from both ICE and the South Korea’s Foreign Ministry have confirmed.
Strong sales of electric and electrified vehicles boosted overall U.S. auto sales during August, with manufacturers including Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Toyota and Ford Motor Co. and Honda reporting solid gains and, in some cases, record sales. More from Headlight.News.
Hyundai Motor Group will invest $26 billion in the U.S. market, the automaker announced, a $5 billion increase from the figure it announced earlier this year. The increased budget will be used to expand the groups presence in the steel and robotics industries, as well as to expand its automotive operations. More from Headlight.News.
it wasn’t all that long ago that Kia was little more than an afterthought on the American market. But sales have soared in recent years and are on track to set another record for 2025. The Sportage, Kia’s best-selling product line is a key reason why. It’s attractive, affordable, and adds plenty of value for the money – especially if you’re considering the high-mileage 2026 Kia Sportage Hybrid. Here’s our review.
General Motors and Hyundai Motor Co. will jointly develop give vehicle, including an all-electric van, the two automakers revealed, marking the first concrete steps in an alliance announced last September. The program primarily will target the Latin American market where both automakers are struggling to beat back a push by emerging Chinese competitors. But the van will be sold in the U.S. More from Headlight.News.
Pres. Donald Trump’s tariffs will add billions to the cost of manufacturing vehicles in the U.S., as well as importing products from abroad. So far, however, automakers have been reluctant to pass those higher costs onto consumers, fearing that could trigger a sharp downturn in demand. How long they can continue swallowing those higher costs remains to be seen. More from Headlight.News.
Automakers, especially Asian brands, posted healthy sales for July. But the pace is expected to slow as the economy turns sluggish from Trump’s tariffs and as unemployment begins to climb.
Subaru is plugging in. While it was slow to launch its first all-electric model, the popular Japanese brand plans to have three EVs in its line-up by next spring – and it showed off its latest addition, the 2026 Subaru Uncharted, during a New York debut Wednesday night. Headlight.News was there.
While automakers may be slowing down plans to rush all-electric models to market they’re still looking for ways to meet increasingly stringent emissions and fuel economy regulations. In the case of the next-generation Telluride, Kia appears to be looking at range-extender technology that could let the 3-row SUV operate in all-electric mode during daily commutes, but keep going without having to plug back in on longer trips. Headlight.News has more.
The compact Kia K4, formerly known as the Forte, has been completely reworked, as well as renamed. As we discovered spending a week with the sporty K4 GT-Line, you get an attractive four-door car with seating for five passengers that delivers a more appealing design, new technology and other new features. Here’s our review.
The first major update of Tesla’s best-selling product line, the Model Y, has officially gone on sale. Known internally by its codename, Juniper, it’s also being offered in a newer, cheaper form, with a base rear-wheel-drive package dropping to $37,490 after factoring in federal tax credits. Whether that will reverse declining Tesla sales, hurt by widespread protests against CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration, remains to be seen. More from Headlight.News.