Local auto parts suppliers hit hard by reeling auto industry

Lackluster sales at South Korean carmakers is taking a toll on local parts suppliers, with a growing number of them recording operating losses and seeking debt workout programs.Amid concerns that struggles at local carmakers would have a profound impact on local small and midsize parts suppliers, the government has stepped in to provide special credit guarantees worth 1 trillion won. (Herald DB)According to data from the Korea Auto Industries Cooperative Association, out of 89 listed first-tier

Oct. 29, 2018

Hyundai conducts executive reshuffle after earnings shock

Apparently seeking a change after the earnings shock last week, Hyundai Motor carried out a major reshuffle of its executives on Monday.The South Korean carmaker promoted Thomas Schemera, executive vice president of its high-performance vehicle division, to head its product planning and strategy division. The former BMW M executive is now in charge of setting the direction for technology development and product planning in light of the fast-changing market and innovations in technology, the comp

Oct. 29, 2018

[Behind the Wheel] All New Jeep Compass gets urban touch

Upon stepping into American classic sports utility vehicle brand Jeep, one cannot help but feel the urge to become a little bit more adventurous. The brand that symbolizes such boldness, however, gets a softer tone with the Jeep Compass, a midsized model in its SUV lineup, especially in its latest version. The All New Jeep Compass that reached the local market in July has gotten an urban touch with modern, young design elements. But it has kept its daredevil spirit inside. The Tighershark MultiA

Oct. 29, 2018

Hyundai Motor to raise $100m for hydrogen startups

Hyundai Motor is joining forces with a Chinese engineering institute to raise around $100 million for an investment fund for startups with innovative ideas on hydrogen technology and infrastructure building, the company said Monday.The South Korean carmaker and the Beijing-Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute signed a memorandum of understanding Friday, agreeing to establish a “Hydrogen Energy Fund.” The fund will be managed by Hyundai Motor and Yield Capital, an investment unit under the Chinese e

Oct. 29, 2018

GM CEO Mary Barra to visit Korea soon

General Motors CEO Mary Barra is planning a visit to South Korea soon to meet with stakeholders, a response to controversy over the US auto giant’s decision to spin off its research and development center as an independent entity.In a letter addressed to the carmaker’s labor union last week in response to its request for a meeting, Barra reiterated the significance of the spinoff and the carmaker’s long-term commitment to its operations in Korea.“With regard to General Motors’ long-term plans, w

Oct. 29, 2018

Hyundai Mobis’ Q3 operating profit drops 15 percent

Hyundai Mobis, a parts maker within Hyundai Motor Group, posted 1.44 trillion won in operating profit, a 15.1 percent decrease from a year ago, the company said in a statement Friday.Between July and September, the parts maker saw 8.42 trillion won in revenue, a 3.9 percent drop on-year, with a net profit of 449.4 billion won, which also declined 6.8 percent over the same period.Sales dropped due to the lower production volume of vehicles in the last three months and the temporary suspension of

Oct. 26, 2018

Incheon City mulls taking back GM Korea's vehicle test site

The Incheon Metropolitan City said Friday it is considering a move to take back the vehicle test site it provided to GM Korea Co. as it claims the carmaker violated a bilateral agreement.In GM Korea's shareholders meeting held last week, General Motors Co., the largest shareholder in the carmaker with a stake of 77 percent, approved its plan to spin off GM Korea's engineering and research divisions into a separate R&D corporation. The test site will be part of the new R&D company. (Yonhap)"The I

Oct. 26, 2018

NPS holds 10 percent of shares in LG Innotek, Hanmi Pharma

The National Pension Service, operator of the state-run pension fund, holds stakes of 10.03 percent in LG Innotek and 10 percent in Hanmi Pharmaceutical, it said in a statement Friday.The pension operator’s stake in CJ CGV, the movie theater arm under food and retail giant CJ Group, has reduced to 9.9 percent from 10.72 percent, it added.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Oct. 26, 2018

Kia posts Q3 operating profit of 117 billion won

Kia Motors, sister company of Hyundai Motor, posted an operating profit of 117.3 billion won for the third quarter, lower than market projections, the company said Friday. Kia generated 14.74 trillion won in revenue, and its operating profit has turned around from the 427 billion won deficit posted a year earlier.The market projection for the carmaker’s third-quarter operating profit was 300 billion won. (Herald DB)A day earlier, Hyundai Motor said it had brought in 288.9 billion won in operatin

Oct. 26, 2018

Hyundai Motor suffers biggest-ever drop in quarterly profit

Hyundai Motor, Korea’s largest carmaker, has suffered the biggest-ever drop in quarterly earnings since adopting its current standards in 2010, with operating profit diving 76 percent on-year, the company said Thursday.The carmaker sold a total of 1.12 million vehicles around the world between July and September, posting 24.4 trillion won ($21.4 billion) of revenue and 288.9 billion won in operating profits, according to the statement.The company faced a significant drop in profit due to slowing

Oct. 25, 2018

Hyundai Mobis develops ‘advanced adaptive driving beam’

Hyundai Mobis, South Korea’s auto parts supplier, has developed the “advanced adaptive driving beam” that ensures driving safety utilizing advanced driver assist systems as part of an effort to lead the future lamp market, the company said Wednesday.The AADB collects a wider range of information compared to the previous version, including information on car lanes using the camera, vehicles approaching from the back using radar, highways via navigation system, and other sources, the company expla

Oct. 24, 2018

Jaguar I-Pace flaunts 480-km driving range

Ahead of the launch of the Jaguar I-Pace electric sport utility vehicle here by the end of the year, Jaguar boasted the SUV’s outstanding driving range in the 378-kilometer drive from London to Belgian capital Brussels in September, the company said Wednesday. Powered by its advanced 90-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, the I-Pace has a maximum driving distance of 480 kilometers per charge and driving stability in freezing weather conditions of minus 40 degrees Celsius.In partnership with Posco

Oct. 24, 2018

Prime minister proposes hydrogen buses for police

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon has made a proposal to replace police buses with fuel cell buses to promote the nation’s leading hydrogen technology.“I publicly propose to replace police buses that are often dubbed ‘henhouse cars idling at Gwanghwamun’ with hydrogen vehicles,” he said at a meeting of ministers. “Along with electric vehicles, (we) must actively develop hydrogen cars more.” A fuel cell bus powered by hydrogen (Hyundai Motor)Currently, the police operate 5,581 buses, according to the K

Oct. 24, 2018

BMW to pre-emptively recall nearly 66,000 vehicles

BMW Group Korea will pre-emptively recall nearly 66,000 BMW and MINI vehicles to repair faulty parts, the transport ministry said Tuesday. The German carmaker's recall plan will start Nov. 26, with a total of 65,763 vehicles encompassing 52 different models to be checked by mechanics, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. (Yonhap)This comes in addition to a recall of about 106,000 vehicles with fire-prone exhaust gas recirculation coolers and pipes. "As the risk

Oct. 23, 2018

[Hydrogen Korea] Ulsan strives to become global hydrogen leader

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on South Korea’s latest measures to support the hydrogen economy, the market drive for hydrogen-powered vehicles and the hurdles that stand in the way. This is the seventh installment. -- EdULSAN -- The southeastern city of Ulsan has long served as the backbone of South Korea’s industrial growth, and in its search of a new role in the era of the “fourth industrial revolution,” the city is betting big on hydrogen.Despite pervasive public indiffe

Oct. 22, 2018

Panel blocks strike by GM Korea

As controversy persisted over GM Korea’s plan to spin off its research and development unit, the nation’s tripartite labor commission put the brakes on the labor union’s push for a strike in opposition to the move. State-run Korea Development Bank Chairman Lee Dong-gull, meanwhile, asked the automaker to explain its plan in detail, adding that it was not necessary to “prejudge whether the spinoff (was) good or bad.”The National Labor Relations Commission on Monday ruled that further dialogue was

Oct. 22, 2018

Hankook Tire supplying tires to Volkswagen's Tiguan R-Line package

Hankook Tire Co., the world's seventh-largest tiremaker by sales, said Monday that it has begun to supply its ultra high-performance tires to Volkswagen's Tiguan R-Line package.Hankook Tire said it began to supply the all-season tire, the "Ventus S1 noble2," as original equipment tires to the Volkswagen sport utility vehicle in March this year.(Yonhap)The South Korean tiremaker has maintained a strategic partnership with the German carmaker since 2001, when it started outfitting the Jetta sedans

Oct. 22, 2018

Hyundai’s i30 N sales accelerate in Europe

Hyundai Motor’s high performance vehicle i30 N set a new monthly sales record in Europe last month, the company said Sunday.The carmaker sold a total of 907 units in September, further raising the sales performance of the vehicle, which debuted last year. The figure takes the total for this year to 4,678, surpassing its annual goal of 2,800.  i30 Fastback N (Hyundai Motor)Of all i30 vehicles sold in Europe, 15 percent were the high performance version of the hatchback, it added. The company is e

Oct. 21, 2018

Renault Samsung launches vehicle-management mobile app

Renault Samsung, the South Korean branch of the French carmaker, has launched a membership-based mobile application for easier vehicle management, the company said Sunday.Named “My Renault Samsung,” the app offers online reservation and maintenance tracking systems as well as information on customer service and various promotional events held by the carmaker. In the near future, the company plans to adopt a mobile-payment system in connection with the app for vehicles that undergo maintenance se

Oct. 21, 2018

[Herald Interview] Volvo CE president highlights Korea as global excavator hub

Mergers and acquisitions are approached carefully and reviewed in depth. While they can help make the company an industry leader, they can also destroy in the company by overloading it in debt.Volvo Construction Equipment Korea, which was created when the Swedish company purchased the construction equipment business from Samsung Heavy Industries in 1998, celebrated its 20th anniversary last week in a festive mood, looking back on the growth achieved.Volvo CE President Melker Jernberg who visited

Oct. 21, 2018