Still not sure what to think of the forthcoming Kia Optima? Stare at it some more while you wait for TTAC to get its hands on a US-market version…

On a recent visit to HATCI, TTAC’s Michael Karesh was granted a peek at the forthcoming Hyundai coupe, known in concept form as Veloster. As our graph of the day shows, Hyundai’s never had great sales success with its front-drive coupes. At its best, the Tiburon hit 20k annual sales for a few year with the last design, but the appeal wore off and sales dropped to about half that level. And with sales of the Genesis sedan and coupe combining for fewer than 24k sales through October of this year, it seems that Hyundai isn’t setting the US coupe market afire with its rear-drive offering either. For comparison, the Chevy Camaro racked up at about 71,500 sales through October. But with 40 MPG highway apparently on-tap for this new Elantra-based coupe, the Velostiburon is on track to out-green the hybrid Honda CR-Z. And by the looks of things, it should at least give the Scion tC a run for the extroverted budget-coupe market. Could Korea’s coupe curse be on the way out?

If there’s a maxim the auto industry can take to the bank, it’s this: focus wins. Knowing a brand’s advantages and maintaining a laser-like focus on them is the way to win in the car game, and it’s a lesson Hyundai has clearly learned. Over the last several years, Hyundai has caught the media’s attention by moving into the luxury and coupe segments with its Genesis, but the real offensive is still coming. The redesigned Sonata was the tip of the spear, giving Hyundai a top-notch competitor in the all-important D-Segment, and next up are similarly improved versions of the Elantra and Accent. These three models have been some of Hyundai’s most enduringly successful nameplates, and as this graph proves, they’ve been responsible for much of the brand’s recent sales growth. They’ve even maintained decent momentum towards the end of their model lifes. With the new Tucson replacing the Santa Fe as Hyundai’s top-selling crossover, Hyundai has been able to maintain a competitive crossover nameplate for several years now, but even the hot CUV segment likely won’t provide as much juice to Hyundai sales as the redesigned Elantra and Accent. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s entries into the luxury and sporty space seem to have amounted to little more than a distraction… the lurking danger for every automaker.

This is a big week for TTAC. A really properly big week. We’ve just had our new budget approved, and as a result, we’ve got some masthead changes to announce shortly… including the hiring of the newest member of Team TTAC, who just happens to be one of my favorite auto writers on the whole damn Web. We’re waiting on a few last-minute details before we make these big announcements though, so in the meantime you’ll have to make do with a smaller announcement: though you might not know it from the content that’s gone up so far today, this week will be Korea Week at TTAC.

Why? Because the rise of the Korean automakers has been one of the biggest automotive stories of the last decade. Twenty years ago, just as Japanese brands were gaining mass-market acceptance in the United States, Korean brands were the punchline of America’s new-car market. But like the Japanese before them, the Korean automakers persisted and successfully entered the automotive mainstream, both with their own brands, and as developers of captive imports and global products for American automakers like GM. Now, with the automotive industry still reeling from the economic downturn, Hyundai and Kia are poised to make serious inroads on the US market, with new products that are capturing the attention of the media and the public.

Over the next week, we’ll explore the history of the Korean automakers, their rise to power, and the vehicles that they built along the way. We’ll also be featuring reviews of the newest products coming out of Korea, starting with one of the Web’s first reviews of the 2011 Kia Optima (Korean-Market Spec), directly from our man in Korea. So pull up a chair, break out the BiBimBap, and stand by for a week of Kimchi-flavored coverage here at TTAC!

Conjecture that Lambo might be getting rid of the V12 in its flagship turns out to have been way off-base: in fact, Lamborghini has just announced specs for its first clean-sheet V12 since the 1964 350GT. Its 6.5 liter displacement is good for 700 high-revving horsepower (but “only” about 500 lb-ft of torque), thanks to aluminum-silicon alloy four-valve heads and an oversquare design. The new engine also comes with a new type of automated-manual gearbox that Lamborghini calls an “Independent Shifting Rod” transmission. We’ll publish more technical details as they become available, but for now let’s just take a moment to lap up the visual feast. New Lambo V12s don’t come around every day… in fact, given past practice and future emissions standards, this may well be the last of the breed.

The Fisker Karma looks as sleek and and sexy as any four-door car on the market, but it’s got a secret: Spanx. Fisker’s powertrain sand battery suppliers tells the New York Times that prototypes of the series-hybrid Karma are weighing in at “over 5,000 lbs.” Says battery supplier A123 System’s Jason Forcier

It’s a pretty heavy car, but you have to look at all the technology, which includes a large gas engine, large electric motors and large batteries.

Fisker reps insist that the final product could come out weighing slightly less, but don’t hold your breath. Meanwhile the 50-mile EV range, 5.9 second 0-60 time and 125 mile top speed goals remain unchanged…. it will probably just feel lead-footed in the twisty stuff. On the other hand, by packaging its batteries in a low, central mass, Chevy’s Volt (the only other EREV on the market) actually handles fairly well for a nearly 4,000-lb compact. Still, “over 5,000 lbs” is full-sized SUV territory, and the Karma is being positioned as a green performance luxury car, not a chauffeured limo. Could this possibly end well?

If you’ve ever been to a topless beach, you know the basic problem: you expect a bunch of topless Jags and Maseratis, but what you actually get is this, the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. Four thousand pounds of roly-poly crossover blessed with the totally misguided belief that people want to see it with its top off. And it would be one thing if this were just a one-off concept, but it sounds like Nissan is considering actually making this thing. We’ll keep a corner of our eye on this as the LA Auto Show kicks off… but we’ll be sure to avoid eye contact.

While Americans wonder if Mahindra will ever bring its diesel-powered trucks and utes to the US market, its main offerings are coming under attack at home. India’s Environmental Minister Jairam Ramesh put diesel-powered SUVs on blast this week, calling the oil-burning utes “criminal” and telling a UN conference that

We are worried about the rate of green house emissions from transport sector. There is need for mandatory fuel efficiency standards. Big vehicles like SUVs should stay off roads

Minister Ramesh’s plan is two-fold: first, he is calling for an end to India’s subsidy of diesel fuel, arguing that diesel contributes disproportionately to India’s greenhouse gas emissions. The second portion of his plan is more controversial, but should sound familiar to American readers: get rid of those nasty SUVs. Ramesh explains

Put a penalty on the type of cars you don’t want to see on the roads, which are diesel-driven cars, SUVs… We cannot ask people to buy or not buy a particular car. But through an effective fiscal policy, we can certainly have an impact

India’s auto industry insists it’s ready for diesel prices to be cut free, but they’re fighting back against Ramesh’s suggestion of a jihad on SUVs.
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Hyundai’s new Elantra is the latest C-Segment car to receive a 40 MPG highway EPA rating (29 MPG in the city) as it prepares to take on Ford’s 40 MPG 2012 Focus and the 42 MPG Chevy Cruze Eco. The Accent’s only engine is a 1.8 liter engine is expected to make 148 HP and 131 lb-ft of torque, meaning you won’t have to upgrade to a special engine and aero package (as in the Cruze) or a dual-clutch transmission (as apparently is the case with the 2012 Focus). It will be down on power compared to the 160 HP/146 lb-ft Focus and more power but less torque than the 138 HP/148 lb-ft Cruze Eco, but should undercut both on price. And by bringing the model-wide efficiency up rather than tweaking special models for high efficiency, Hyundai’s John Krafcik says that his firm will have no problem hitting a 50 MPG average by 2025 (though a CAFE calculation that gives the 40/29 MPG ELantra a 44 MPG average doesn’t hurt). Meanwhile, when was the last time you heard anyone even mention the Civic or Corolla? The times, they are a-changing…

The second-best thing about this video? The Dodge rep specifically notes that it’s embargoed until Monday. The very best thing? It’s been on Youtube for nearly a week. Autonetwork doesn’t play the embargo game… and as a result you get a quick peek at some new Dodges as well as a taste of the tedium that is a press launch event. Enjoy it while it lasts!

A GM press release subtitled Engine Control Module Reliably Performs 125 Million Operations a Second reveals that

A 32-bit embedded processor with three megabytes of integrated flash memory gives the 2011 Buick Regal’s Ecotec 2.0L engine microcontroller the quickest throughput, or processing power, in the automotive industry.

For the Regal driver, this means more precise fuel delivery for the best-possible fuel economy, emissions and performance.

Our question: why can’t this processor work in Chevy’s truck marketing?

We don’t yet have understanding and expertise when it comes to mass production or even limited mass production. There is so much to learn, I don’t know quite where to start.

When the mess gets sorted out, I’d like to have a conversation with whoever’s in charge at the time — the car czar or whoever — and say “I’d like to run your plants, if you don’t mind”

With the federal deficit balooning out of control, President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has publicized its preliminary proposals, and goodness are there a lot of them. But only one of the commission’s proposals gets to the heart of this nation’s automotive future: a proposal to increase America’s gas tax. Federal fuel taxes currently stand at 18.4 cents a gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel fuel, but the commission has proposed a 15 cent per gallon increase, to take effect starting in 2013.

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Now that Chrysler has released full side-on images of its new “200” sedan, its Sebring heritage is plain to see. But will a new name, a new V6, improved handling and a new interior be enough to get D-segment shoppers to forget the Sebring’s ignominy and head back to Chrysler showrooms?