Hyundai and Kia Introduces ‘Active Air Skirt’ to Help EVs Go Further

In my egotistic young days, I've had my motorcycle over its design speed, up to 115MPH & my tiny cars over 90MPH. Won't ever need AAS at 124MPH in my old age. Won't need 48MPH AAS on the many 35MPH country roads I travel. Won't need AAS for bragging rights or money outlays for any extra cost repairs.
Hyundai & KIA are abandoning their poorer clients. AND doing it rapidly at 124MPH?​

 

Is there an aerodynamic reason to not have them in place all the time, or is the active part just to have them out of the way of curbs and driveway skirts?

I did install an airdam made of garden edging on the HHR that seemed to help. A full width one is an easier way of cleaning underneath airflow if installing belly pans isn't an option.

The point is to alleviate concerns of them breaking when hitting road debris at much lower speeds.

Costs for this will be minor once spread out to multiple models. Did active grill shutters break the bank?

 

All active grill shutter cars don't break my bank account since I can't afford them.

 

Active grill shutters have been out of over a decade; it is at the point car makers may not list them under specs. Many models have them, even some entry level ones.

Just saw that some Rams have active air dams.

 

As stated, the poor can’t pay for what Trollbait determines is reasonable. I’m glad my 11 year old car runs well & I don’t need a new car, with or without active grill shutters AND with other options Trollbait states the poor can afford.

 

The manufacturers are not worried about the poor because the poor don't buy new cars.

For the same reason, they don't care about the Internet Car Experts who b*tch about new cars not being sold with a manual transmission. "No manual, no deal", they say in the comment section of a car review. In the same paragraph, these idiots will say, "I never buy new - let some other schmuck pay the depreciation". If nobody buys a new car with manual transmission, they won't build any and then there are no used cars with a stick for these loudmouths to buy.

People lament the Crossover Takeover of the market but unless they grab their checkbook and buy what they think people should buy, the Crossovers win over the market because it's what everybody is buying.

I lament the loss of the Chevy Spark in the marketplace. Small and economical - a sort of 21st century Chevette. I tried to buy one but they had shut the plant down to retool for the Trax. A benefit for me because I ended up with the HEH instead, and it crushes the Spark in mpg capability. And I did set up my niece with a 24 Trax last month, which itself is the love child of the Spark and the Blazer, so I am doing my part to support the manufacture of low cost decent mpg transportation.

 

I like MaxxMPG's last post, except for one correction of his first sentence. The sentence should be, "The manufacturers are not worried about the poor because the poor CAN'T buy new cars....". The poor do NOT have a choice, as the word "don't" implies the poor do.

 

I do like the Chevy Spark. It's not that far from being a Fit. But I guess bowtie-buyers didn't like it.
Come to think of it , they didn't like the Cruze,either. Or the Volt,which should have really been a home
run for GM. What did these people buy instead ? Look around, the answer is obvious.

 

The Spark, like the Cruze and Volt, died from not being profitable enough. The Spark and the Cruze each had their own factory - Changwon and Lordstown - and the Volt was built at Hamtramck with a couple of unpopular Cadillacs. Look what happened to the Bolt - the sole model from Lake Orion, Michigan. When you get a factory building only one model, even if that model sells in multiple countries, it's time to start shopping for funeral floral arrangements.
The Volt did spawn the Malibu hybrid, which reworked the Volt transaxle to connect the engine to the drive wheels under a wider speed range to change it over from serial to parallel hybrid. But they did so in an unpopular sedan that withered due to unrealistic pricing. If they bolted it into a Cruze hatch and priced it anywhere near the Prius/Insight, it would have fared much better in the market.
The domestics - GM, Ford, and whatever Chrysler is calling itself this week - have all abandoned the "first time buyer" and basic transportation segment of the market. The only sign of life is GM's Chevy Trax and Buick Envista, which start at just over $21k and top out at $31k. The next step up is the Trailblazer and then Equinox and you find yourself in the 30k range real fast. And that's where Ford starts with the Escape, in the low 30s. And Jeep has the Compass - a Mexican Fiat - starting around $30k as well. I consider it a miracle of marketing and manufacturing that GM brought a well equipped Chevrolet crossover (actually a tall wagon if you look at it) for about the same price as its competition - the Hyundai Venue, Kia Soul and Nissan Kicks. Even Honda and Toyota have snubbed that part of the market, with the HRV and Corolla Cross both firmly in the low $30k range in real world inventory.

 

The real poor don't have a car. Most of the world's population with a vehicle have a motorcycle. If you want cheaper new cars, write your congress critter to expand the US vehicle code to introduce a segment for kei cars or quadracycles. Or just expand public transit.

For someone that hates communists(always small c), you sure do whine a lot about capitalists chasing profits.

 

I think it's "Do Not Resuscitate"

 

How many Americans would actually buy one ?

I like kei cars.

But fuel is cheap and plentiful, so......not gonna happen.

 

You're not alone in the DNR on the Pentastar. I have to wonder what it would cost to smog and crash test the Citroen C3 and bring it here as the Dodge Neon. Maybe sell the C3 Aircross alongside it as the Caliber. Stack em deep and - most important - sell em cheap.

 

I think it was James Michener, who married a woman 90(?) years ago, from a 3rd (maybe not a 4th) World country & moved to the US. She was curious & asked Michener to take her to see the US poor. So Michener took her to a slum, where all the houses were run down, falling apart & kids running around the streets. After some miles of travel, his wife said to him, yeah, but I want to see the poor.

Trollbait takes notes about my complaints about communist chinese(always small letters) & capitalists chasing profits. Yes, communist chinese(always small letters) & capitalists chasing profits, hand-in-hand making money in the same country, make sure to pay workers sub-survival wages, & also chuck their worker safety & their health care. Thank you Trollbait for telling us, how similar are communist chinese(always small letters) & capitalists chasing profits.

 

The cars themselves are less affordable these days. Not that the car companies really care.

I wish for such a segment to make it easier for new companies to enter the market. The Microlino Lite might come to the US as a LSV/NEV. A 25mph top speed car has a small potential market with the sprawl of this country. Now the full power one can reach 55mph, which would work for more people, but we won't get it cause it would have to meet all the full car regulations.

 

I only saw one of those first 25MPH cars(lead-acid battery). A real estate business bought one to show people around to homes in a small town. I saw it parked.....in the business' parking lot....a lot. Don't think they used it much. The business was on a 30MPH road through town, which was a highway. I'm sure any traffic behind the 25MPH EV wanted to go near 35MPH, after being at 55(+?) MPH on the highway.
Edwin says he never passes. But, if Edwin was on his bicycle, he'd pass the 25MPH EV. UP any hills & the 25MPH EV can't do 10-15MPH. Reality eliminates 25MPH vehicles, even in cities.