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MARKHAM, ON -- Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. and its affiliate, Kia Canada Inc., have reached settlements with combined valued of almost $70 million in class action suits involving the fuel economy ratings of some of their vehicles.

The deal offers lump sum payments and other options to current and former owners and lessees of some 130,000 model year 2011 to 2013 Hyundai vehicles and some 41,000 Kia vehicles from the same model years.

The value of the Hyundai settlement is up to $46.65 million, while the Kia deal is worth up to $23 million, the companies said.

Those who don't take the one-time payments can remain in an existing reimbursement both Hyundai and Kia introduced after restating the fuel economy ratings of their vehicles in November 2012.

At the time, Hyundai's previously advertised fuel consumption figures for combined city/highway driving were increased by between 0.2 and 0.8 of a litre per 100 kilometres. Figures for Kia were not immediately available.

Michael Peerless of Siskinds LLP, the lead plaintiff lawyer involved in the settlement, praised the decision to settle.

"Hyundai should be commended for doing the right thing and resolving this issue with its customers," Peerless is quoted in a statement issued Monday by Hyundai.

"The fact that a class member is able to choose one of a variety of lump sum payments, or to remain in the reimbursement program, provides real benefits to this large class of customers."

At the time of the restatement, Hyundai and Kia both provided a reimbursement program to cover the additional fuel costs associated with the rating change -- plus a 15 per cent premium in acknowledgment of the inconvenience to customers -- for as long as they owned or leased an affected vehicle.

Affected owners and lessees are compensated based on their actual kilometres driven and the fuel costs for the region in which they live.

"While customers have responded favourably to the original reimbursement program, today's settlement is designed to provide them with an additional compensation option, again intended to make customers fully whole for Hyundai's fuel economy ratings restatement," said Faithlyn Hemmings, senior legal counsel at Hyundai Canada.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement Monday, a lump sum payment will be provided as an option to the reimbursement program.

While the agreements are valued at up to $46.65 million and $23 million respectively in cash compensation plus other available options, the actual figure will depend on what options customers choose to take.

The lump sum payments will vary by type of vehicle and will be reduced for any amounts already received through the existing reimbursement programs.

For example, an individual owner who purchased a new 2012 Elantra would receive a lump sum payment of $361, minus any previous reimbursement payments.

Both offers also allow drivers may also select other options, such as a dealership credit of 150 per cent of the lump sum cash payment amount or a credit of 200 per cent of the cash amount toward the purchase of a new vehicle.

Courts in Ontario and Quebec are expected to review the agreement for approval later this year.

Jaguar is getting ready for the Super Bowl. Clearly, they’re not preparing for the game itself – but for the commercials. Jaguar will be running their first Super Bowl ad next weekend during the big game. 

Teasers have been released and the British actors have been revealed along with the star of the commercial – the 2015 F-Type Coupe. Tom Hiddleston, Mark Strong and Sir Ben Kingsley play the British villains in Jaguar’s ‘It’s Good to be Bad’ campaign. 

Jaguar has released a 30-second clip of the commercial, which actually runs for 60 seconds. In the ad, Kingsley arranges a meeting on the runway at an airport. “So they’re coming. All the usual suspects,” Kingsley says. The commercial then cuts to the runway with the F-Type and Kingsley saying “Oh, and the new one.” The shot is then of the car racing down the runway, and then ends with “You’ll be hearing from us.” 

Along with the main commercial, Jaguar released three other teasers featuring each actor saying catchy one-liners. The British actors make the teasers very intriguing creating a James Bond movie-like atmosphere. The ad will be aired on February 2, during Super Bowl XLVIII. 

You can watch the videos below and see for yourself.

The Nissan Rogue is already the best-selling Nissan vehicle in Canada, but they want it to climb that compact SUV ladder and capture a bigger piece of that pie along with Ford, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai. 

The new Rogue went on sale in December at a starting price of $23,498 and they’re now launching a series of action-packed television commercials to showcase the Rogue’s new bold styling and superb handling.

In this Quebec commercial, the Nissan Rogue battles some angry snowmen that attack a city that’s suffering from the bitter cold and snow. The scene is reminiscent of a Batman movie where the Rogue becomes the hero and saves all of its citizens who can’t get those “other” cars started due to the weather conditions.

The Rogue for the first time will be offered as a three row, seven-seater which is shown in the video. Nissan also is stating that it will have a class-leading fuel economy rated at 6.0L/100 km on the highway for their front-wheel drive CVT models, an 18 per cent improvement from its outgoing model.

Nissan commercials have been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons stemming from its 2011 Frontier Pickup ad that contains some special effects that were deemed deceptive to the consumers. This new commercial isn’t deceptive, but a fun one-minute clip that feels like a movie and can excite new customers to the brand and to the Rogue.

MILAN - The Italian carmaker Fiat says its acquisition of the final Chrysler stake is complete, making the U.S. car company a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fiat.

Fiat SpA said Tuesday that it closed the deal announced Jan. 1 with the cash payment of $1.75 billion to a union-controlled trust fund. That's on top of an initial $1.9-billion payment, which was arranged through a special distribution from Chrysler. Fiat also made the first installment on an additional $700 million payment.

Fiat has been running Chrysler since 2009, but lacked full control until Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne won a hard-fought deal with the minority stakeholder. The deal gives Fiat a freer hand to push deeper integration and decide where the joint company will be based and listed, as well as its name.