LOS ANGELES – Hyundai's and Kia's powertrain lineups in the United States and elsewhere will get more turbocharged gasoline engines and new transmissions, Hyundai Motor Group said today.
The company also said it planned to expand its lineup of diesel-powered vehicles, but it did not indicate in which markets.
The company did not say when the new engines and transmissions will be available.
In 2011, Bloomberg reported that Hyundai was developing a 10-speed automatic transmission for luxury vehicles starting in 2014.
The company has launched eight-speed automatic transmissions in the Hyundai Genesis and Equus upscale sedans, as well as six-speed automatic and manual transmissions for its mainstream vehicles.
Hyundai Motor Group, the parent of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., outlined its global future powertrain plans in an announcement early Tuesday coinciding with the 2012 Hyundai-Kia International Powertrain Conference, an annual event hosted near the company's r&d center in South Korea.
The recent overhaul of Hyundai's and Kia's vehicle lineups has brought new engine and transmission technologies. Gasoline direct-injection and six-speed automatic and manual transmissions, for example, are used in each brand's lineup, from the subcompact Kia Rio to the mid-sized Hyundai Sonata.
Hyundai is looking to maintain that momentum while competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which until recently have been slower to widely adopt direct injection, race to bring new, more efficient transmissions and direct-injection engines to market.
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