BlueLink photos on Flickr

In the Korean domestic market, the Hyundai Grandeur has always been a very important executive car, dating back to 1986, when it took over from the excellent European Ford Granada that Hyundai had assembled under license until then. The first two generations were Mitsubishi designs, but by the late 1990s, Hyundai was designing its own Grandeur from scratch. The third generation (Grandeur XG) came to the US as the XG300 (later XG350), and the fourth generation (Grandeur TG) came to the US as the Azera; both models helped Hyundai move its image upscale in the US market.

Now the Grandeur enters the fifth generation (Grandeur HG), and retains the Azera name in markets that had used it. The Azera was in sore need of an upgrade, having been squeezed from below by the Sonata and from above by the Genesis in recent years in the US market. Many Americans had simply thought Hyundai would give up on the Azera, though considering how important and popular the Grandeur is for Hyundai in the Korean domestic market and elsewhere, that would have been unlikely.

The 2012 Azera has a fresh new look, as well as a more modern interior. It also comes with Hyundai's new US-market telematics system, BlueLink. And while it continues on with the old formula of 6-cylinder power and front wheel drive, the engine now gains direct injection, and the transmission had been upgraded to 6 speeds at the tail end of the previous generation. It even has some features lacking in the more upscale Genesis, like the rear side window blinds. With this redesign, the Azera finally gets more of its own identity, like its Toyota counterpart, the Lexus ES, which more than holds its own ground between the Camry, the Avalon, and the GS.

I had always considered the Azera to be a geriatric cruiser, but this one is actually more appealing than the Genesis in many ways.

Seen at Los Angeles International Auto Show, 2011. This was the fifth generation Grandeur/Azera's foreign debut; it is already on sale in the Korean domestic market.

Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid Limited (US), 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show by Scarlet Sappho

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New for model year 2017 was the Hyundai Ioniq, initially released in hybrid and electric versions, adding a plug-in variant in 2018. The hybrid version gets 55 to 58 miles per gallon depending on equipment, and is the most serious challenger to the supremacy of the Toyota Prius in the hybrid market.

The Hybrid Limited is the top trim level for the hybrid variant, and can be decked out with the Ultimate package which includes navigation, BlueLink telematics, wireless phone charging, and more. This fully loaded Ioniq stickers around $31,000.

Love the exterior blue!

I still love my 2009 Hyundai Genesis, but due to excessive driving in stop-and-go city driving under rideshare duty conditions, the car has taken a lot of abuse. My goal is to never drive my own car for such services, but even then, a hybrid powertrain that uses electric power for the stop-and-go driving (which is normally the worst weakness of gasoline engines) is definitely a winning formula. Between the Ioniq being better than the Prius in many ways, and my hatred of Toyota in general and Prius in particular, the Ioniq is most likely to be my next car.

Bluelink Jets Cessna 560XL Citation Excel XLS SE-RMR by Joshua Allen

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Bluelink Jets Cessna 560XL SE-RMR by Gideon van Dijk

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Operator: Bluelink Jets

Aircraft: Cessna 560XL Citation XLS

Registration: SE-RMR

C/n: 560-5727

Location: Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM/EHRD)

Date: 10-10-2016

Previously: N5192E Cessna Aircraft Co, VH-NGH Sunshine Express Airlines Pty Ltd, VH-NGH Flight Options (Australia) Pty Ltd, LX-INS Luxaviation

2010 Hyundai Equus VS460 (Korea Domestic) by Scarlet Sappho

A preproduction Korean domestic market Equus doing floor demonstrator duty in the US, to gauge consumer reaction. The alcantara suede roof liner is to die for.

The driver's visor shows some telephone numbers for the Korean domestic market: from top to bottom, they are Hyundai customer service, roadside assistance, parts department (Hyundai Mobis genuine parts), traffic information from Hyundai, and expressway traffic reporting hotline. When I drove a rental Sonata in South Korea in 2008, its visor listed the exact same telephone numbers. The 080 numbers are toll-free while the 1588 numbers are nationwide local call.

The rearview mirror has a built-in Hi-Pass expressway toll transponder. In South Korea, using a Hi-Pass transponder is good for a 5-20% discount on expressway tolls. It also has buttons for Mozen, Hyundai's domestic-market telematics service. For the US market, Hyundai uses a different telematics service, BlueLink, offered from model year 2012 and using the same infrastructure as BMW and Toyota's US telematic services.

The Korean domestic market Genesis also comes with a similar rearview mirror with Hi-Pass and Mozen, but for the US market Genesis, Hyundai instead chose to use an off-the-shelf Gentex rearview mirror, shared with many US domestic cars and equipped with Johnson Controls HomeLink to operate garage doors. The same would also become the case for the US-market version of the Equus as well.

SE-RMR by Marc Duthet

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Cessna 560XLS Citation Excel msn560-5727 de 2007

Bluelink Jets AB (02/2016 - ...)

Aéroport Grenoble Isère

22/02/2020

VH-NGH, LX-INS, SE-RMR.

BlueLink by J. Morgan Meadows

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3.10.10 Urban visions mid-town Atlanta

Bluelink Jets AB Cessna 560XL Citation Excel SE-RHJ by Mario Alberto Ravasio

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