Hyundai, Kia to unveil a new electric car

Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said yesterday that they plan to unveil an electric car at the world’s largest motor show to be held in Germany next month.

Hyundai and Kia, Korea’s top two car makers, will display the small electric car, the i10, at the Frankfurt Motor Show scheduled for Sept. 15 to 17, said the flagship companies of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group. The exhibition is in line with the group’s push to manufacture cars that don’t emit carbon dioxide, the prime culprit of global warming.

According to industry watchers, the group’s showcasing of an electric car at the global motor show indicates it has made considerable headway in its “green car project.”

On Friday, the group made public a master plan to develop environmentally friendly cars in an effort to become one of the world’s four largest green car makers. Under the plan, Hyundai and Kia will push to produce hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles within two to three years and start selling plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the United States in 2012. Yonhap