Hyundai/Kia cancels plan for U.S. pickup
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/trucks/" rel="tag">Trucks/Pickups</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/hyundai/" rel="tag">Hyundai</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/kia/" rel="tag">Kia</a></p><a href="http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/ANA02/258119849/1181"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="right" alt="" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/05/no_kia_truck.jpg" /></a>Hyundai's on-again, off-again plans to bring <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/04/hyundai-considering-rwd-car-based-pickup/">a pickup</a> to the U.S. market are... um, <a href="http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/ANA02/258119849/1181">off again</a>, and possibly for good this time. The news that neither Kia nor parent company Hyundai will offer a pickup should not come as much of a surprise, considering the sorry state of affairs in the U.S. truck market. Timing, as they say, is everything, though Honda's unibody Ridgeline pickup has actually weathered the storm well. A possible front-wheel-drive <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/17/kia-may-introduce-unibody-pickup-truck-with-next-gen-sorento/">unibody truck</a> competitor from Korea could have offered another fuel-saving choice for U.S. consumers who like the utility of a pickup but balk at the poor fuel mileage of the standard-fare full-frame rear-wheel-drive platform. Hyundai's not ready to take that bet, though, according to company CEO Kim Dong-Jin, who says, rather succinctly, "now is not the right time to produce a pickup truck." The Kia plant in West Point, Georgia will likely be used instead for the production of Hyundai passenger cars like the Sonata, which shares a platform with the <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/20/new-york-2008-kia-debuts-2009-optima/">Kia Optima</a> that's already planned to be built at the plant.<br /><br />[Source: <a href="http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/ANA02/258119849/1181">Automotive News</a>, sub. req'd]<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href=http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/ANA02/258119849/1181>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/09/hyundai-kia-cancels-plan-for-u-s-pickup/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1190500/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/09/hyundai-kia-cancels-plan-for-u-s-pickup/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p><hr />

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