Hyundai rushes to be green

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. said it plans to leapfrog Toyota Motor Corp. in green car technologies in the U.S. market by 2015. Toyota currently holds a technological lead, selling its Prius gas-electric hybrid cars for a decade, during which it has had a chance to perfect the complex commercial production process. At its research labs in Namyang, south of Seoul, nearly 2,000 engineers are racing to prepare gas-electric hybrid and fuel-cell engines as well as flex-fuel and clean diesel powertrains. Hyundai won’t have a hybrid on the road in the U.S. until its Sonata goes on sale in 2010, but the company is betting that it can make incremental progress. (December 23, 2008)