Hyundai Motor takes subcompact car off Indian market

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. has withdrawn a subcompact car from the Indian market as the company seeks to sell other new models in Asia's second-largest economy, industry sources said Monday. The Santro city car, also known as the Hyundai Atoz in South Korea, was pulled off the Indian market in January after Hyundai Motor decided to cease its production late last year, according to the sources. The subcompact car, which was the very first model for Hyundai Motor to showcase in

May 4, 2015

Renault Samsung recalls over 20,000 cars on defects

 Renault Samsung Motor Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault SA, is recalling more than 20,000 units of its QM3 crossover SUV due to the defective brake system, the transportation ministry said Monday. A potential problem in the QM3 mini SUVs could corrode the brake hose and cause the brake system to leak, which may compromise the car's ability to stop, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The recall affects 20,949 QM3 vehicles produced between Sept.11, 2013

May 4, 2015

Hyundai, Kia's overseas output hits record high in March

Overseas production by South Korea's leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its corporate cousin Kia Motors Corp. touched record-high numbers in March on the back of a boost in output in their factories in Turkey and China, data showed Sunday. The combined number of cars produced abroad by the carmaking duo under Hyundai Motor Group came to 401,784 units in March, up5.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association. The number marks

May 3, 2015

SK chief's daughter to fight piracy in Arabian Sea

A daughter of the chairman of SK Group, South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate, will be dispatched to the Gulf of Aden for an anti-piracy mission, the Navy said Wednesday.  Chey Min-jung, the second daughter of convicted SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, has drawn media attention after being commissioned as a naval officer last November.   "The ensign is to be sent to the Gulf of Aden as the 19th batch of troops for a six-month mission at the end of June," a naval officer said. She has been assigned to

April 29, 2015

Samsung posts 39 pct drop in Q1 earnings

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday its net profit plunged 39 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier due to weak earnings from its mobile business.    Net income reached 4.63 trillion won ($4.32 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 7.6 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.   Operating profit came to 5.98 trillion won, down 29.6 percent from a year ago, with sales falling 12.2 percent to 47.1 trillion won. The fin

April 29, 2015

LG says mulling joining UHD Alliance

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's No. 2 smartphone and home appliance maker, said Tuesday it is considering joining the global partnership for ultra high-definition television and digital content, following rival Samsung's announcement to become a member at the beginning of this year.   "We're looking into joining the UHD Alliance. If we do so, we'll be taking part in setting the standards for UHD technology," a LG Electronics official said.   Introduced in January, the UHD Alliance is made up

April 28, 2015

Homeplus fined for giving insurers customer info

The antitrust watchdog said Monday it has fined retail giant Homeplus and its affiliate Homeplus Tesco for providing local insurers with the personal information of applicants for giveaway events.  The 435 million won ($404,500) fine was slapped on the retailers after they collected information on customers between August 2011 and June 2014, the Fair Trade Commission said.  Homeplus, which has more than 21,000 employees, was ordered to pay 325 million won, while 110 million won in fines was levi

April 27, 2015

Dongkuk Steel to sell headquarters for 420 bln won

Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., South Korea's third-largest steel maker, said Friday it plans to sell its headquarters building in downtown Seoul to a local insurer as part of its efforts to bolster its financial status.Dongkuk's board of directors approved the deal worth 420 billion won ($389 million) to sell the building to Samsung Life Insurance Co., an insurance unit of the country's top conglomerate, Samsung Group, it said.The sale of the 28-story building in downtown Seoul, one of the steelmaker's

April 24, 2015

Hyundai Motor's Q1 net drops 2.2 pct on strong won

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said Thursday its first-quarter net profit dropped 2.2 percent from a year earlier, affected by the strong local currency that hurts its sales in emerging markets.Net profit came to 1.98 trillion won ($1.83 billion) during the January-March period, compared with 2.03 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.The first-quarter operating profit also dropped 18.1 percent on-year to 1.59 trillion won over the cited period

April 23, 2015

SK hynix net soars 61.5 pct in Q1

South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. said Thursday its net profit shot up 61.5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on robust sales of server and mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products.Net profit came to 1.29 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 802.5 billion won a year earlier, the company said in its regulatory filing.Revenue gained 28.7 percent on-year to 4.81 trillion won in the first quarter, and operating profit also jumped

April 23, 2015

Two SK firms to merge, cementing chairman's grip

SK C&C Co., an IT service unit of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, said Monday it will merge with SK Holdings Co. through a stock swap deal, a move seen as part of groupwide efforts to solidify its chairman's grip on the group.The deal is the latest in a series of moves by the country's conglomerates to revamp their ownership structure, and is expected to help the group's chairman Chey Tae-won cement his reign over the chaebol with a business portfolio ranging from telecom to energy.Th

April 20, 2015

Kia's Carnival receives highest safety rating in U.S.

Kia Motors Corp.'s all-new Carnival minivan has received the highest safety rating for collision tests conducted by a U.S. highway safety agency, the company said Thursday.The Carnival minivan, also known as the Sedona in the U.S., has received the highest rating of five stars from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in overall safety tests, according to the company. It received five stars in frontal and side crash tests, while getting five stars in a turnover accident test.The NH

April 16, 2015

Hyundai, Kia post record car sales in Europe in March

Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday that they posted record monthly sales in Europe last month on growing demand for their strategic car models targeting local customers.Hyundai Motor said that its Europe sales in March came to 48,215 units, up 11.9 percent from the previous year when it sold 43,076 cars. This marked the largest monthly sales following 48,001 units recorded in March 2012.Kia Motors also saw its Europe sales expand 9.9 percent on-year to 44,

April 16, 2015

Lotte Group drops bid to buy Italian duty free firm

South Korean retail conglomerate Lotte, which operates retail channels including duty-free shops, said Wednesday that it has withdrawn its bid to buy an Italian duty-free company."Lotte Group has considered acquiring Italian World Duty Free from many different angles, but the WDF has notified us to discontinue the process with Lotte Group, due to simultaneous talks with another company," Lotte Shopping Co., the group's key retail affiliate, said in a filing. "Therefore, Lotte Group decided to st

April 15, 2015

Samsung SDS aims to almost triple sales by 2020

Samsung SDS Co., an information technology solution arm of South Korea's top conglomerate, Samsung Group, said Wednesday it is aiming to almost triple its annual sales to 20 trillion won ($18.2 billion) by 2020 by expanding its mainstay IT-outsourcing business.Last year, Samsung SDS, established in 1985, raked in 7.8 trillion won in sales. "Samsung has been dealing well with paradigm changes in industries, and thus kept its lead in many sectors," said Jun Dong-soo, who heads Samsung SDS. "We ros

April 15, 2015

LG's new budget handset gives glimpse of G4

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's No. 2 tech firm, said Wednesday it will release a low-end smartphone that boasts a slightly curved screen, giving an early peek of the flagship G4 smartphone set to hit shelves later this month.Although not as curved as the G Flex 2 released earlier this year, which has a curvature of 650-750R, the LG Volt will come with a 4.7-inch HD in-plane switching display with a curvature of 3,000R. A lower number indicates that the screen is bent more sharply.While sales

April 15, 2015

Hyundai Motor denies report on plant construction in Mexico

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, denied a media report Wednesday that it is seeking to build a factory in Mexico, calling it "groundless."Bloomberg earlier reported that Hyundai Motor is pushing to build a plant in Mexico, citing an interview with a high-ranking official of the local unit of the automaker. He was quoted as saying that Hyundai's car production in the country will likely start in a few years. "That is his personal opinion, and the decision to build a plant is totall

April 15, 2015

Hyundai, Kia see domestic sales of full-size sedans plunge

Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. saw domestic sales of their full-size sedans drop sharply in the face of intensifying competition from foreign brands, industry data showed Tuesday.According to the data, Hyundai Motor, the country's largest carmaker, sold 19,919 units of the Grandeur during the first quarter of this year, down 15.7 percent from a year earlier. The Grandeur was one of the best-selling cars, with over 93,000 units of the model sold last year. The sales

April 14, 2015

Sales of Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge beat expectations

Sales of Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy S6 Edge, a curved sister of the new flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone, have been much higher than expected, industry sources said Tuesday, with its supply unlikely to meet surging demand for the time being.Samsung rolled out the latest smartphone models in 20 countries on Friday, hoping they will help revitalize its ailing mobile business and take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone lineup.According to the sources, sales of the Galaxy S6 Edge currently make up about 50 p

April 14, 2015

Naver moves to defend users from investigation warrants

South Korea's top portal operator Naver Corp. said Monday it will seek to add more transparency to its management of privacy by having exclusive lawyers review and possibly reject warrants, amid rising concerns over the government's censorship online."Starting in April, Naver will adopt a new system in which lawyers review warrants issued by state investigators, to make sure that they do not violate the rights of unrelated users," the company said, adding it will not respond to requests that may

April 13, 2015