Record number of vehicles recalled this year

A record number of vehicles have already been recalled so far this year with 32 more cases still pending, the transport ministry said Thursday.A total of 1,382,490 cars were recalled as of Thursday involving 188 cases, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure. The number is the highest since a self-certification system was put into effect for auto manufacturers in 2003. The previous record was in 2004, when 1,369,925 vehicles were recalled.More than 1 million autos were re

Aug. 31, 2017

[Monitor] Dim outlook for Korean carmakers amid slowing global demand

The number of Korean cars sold globally between January and July this year declined 6.8 percent from the same period last year, due to slowing demand from China and the US, the world’s two biggest auto markets, a study showed Wednesday.According to Woori Finance Research Institute, Korean carmakers’ sales in US turned south for the first time since 2010, while their sales in China plummeted 45.5 percent this year.Hyundai Motor has five plants for manufacturing passenger vehicles and one for comm

Aug. 30, 2017

Hyundai Motor resumes China plant operation

Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and BAIC Motor, resumed the operations of its four plants in China on Wednesday, ending a weeklong suspension triggered by delayed payments to a local supplier.Since last week, Hyundai had halted assembly lines at its three plants in Beijing and a fourth facility in Changzhou. The carmaker was forced to stop the assembly lines temporarily, as a local partner declined to supply auto parts over delayed payments for its products.  (Yonhap)Beiji

Aug. 30, 2017

Renault Samsung union tentatively OKs wage terms

Renault Samsung Motors Corp.'s union has tentatively agreed on this year's wage terms, after staging no strikes for the third year in a row, the company said Wednesday. In wage negotiations that began in May, the Renault Samsung Motors offered to raise basic salaries by 62,400 won ($56) a month and provide 150 percent of basic pay plus cash of 6 million won in bonuses per worker.  (Yonhap)On Friday, some 2,500 union members will vote to decide on whether to accept the terms or not. If more than

Aug. 30, 2017

Hyundai union says wage talks will resume in Nov. under new leadership

Hyundai Motor Co.'s union said Tuesday its new leadership will resume wage talks with the company in November, as no headway has been made after 28 rounds of "fruitless" negotiations. "We have decided to suspend wage talks with the company as its revised offerings were not satisfactory at all. Once a new union leader is elected next month a leadership structure should be in place by October, and these people can then handle the wage deal in November," a union spokesman said over the phone.The co

Aug. 29, 2017

Hyundai Motor suspends plant operation in China

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest carmaker, has suspended the operations of its manufacturing plants in China, the carmaker said Tuesday.The carmaker’s office in China, Beijing Hyundai, has decided to halt its three plants in the Chinese capital and a fourth facility in Changzhou. (Yonhap)The decision came as local partners are declining to supply auto parts to Hyundai in a show of complaint over delayed payments for their products.Beijing Hyundai has failed to pay around 18.9 billion won ($1

Aug. 29, 2017

12 Audi, Volkswagen diesel cars pass emissions test

Twelve diesel vehicles imported by Audi Volkswagen Korea, which have been suspended from sales on charges of manipulating related documents, have passed emissions tests set by South Korea’s Environment Ministry, officials said Tuesday.The National Institute of Environmental Research, an agency under the ministry commissioned to run emissions tests on vehicles aiming to enter the market here, has approved the diesel cars, which include the small sport utility vehicle Tiguan and Arteon, the latest

Aug. 29, 2017

Korea to build test bed for self-driving cars

A test bed area for autonomous cars will be built west of Seoul by the end of next year to put test vehicles through real world road and traffic conditions, the transport ministry said Tuesday.Groundbreaking for K-City will be held on Wednesday in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to build the 320,000 square-meter facility for 11 billion won ($9.77 million), according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.  The facility will have simulated roads that like highways, downtown areas, cit

Aug. 29, 2017

Hyundai suffers W620b output loss on strikes

Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. will stage a partial strike on Monday after seven rounds of walkouts that already cost the company 620 billion won ($553 million) in production losses, corporate sources said.The company's union said its day-shift workers at Hyundai's main plants in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will go on strike for four hours from 11:30 a.m. It also said night-shift workers are planning to stay clear of work for four hours from 8:20 p.m. At the same time as th

Aug. 28, 2017

BMW new 5 Series equipped with latest partial driverless features

German automotive company BMW on Sunday said its new seventh-generation 5 Series launched in Korea last February is the fruit of the carmaker’s cutting-edge partial self-driving technology. BMW Korea sold a total of 8,063 units of the new seventh-generation 5 Series between February and July this year, the company said. A partial self-driving system panel is located on the left of the steering wheel of the new seventh-generation 5 Series (BMW Korea)The 5 Series is BMW’s best-seller, with over 7.

Aug. 27, 2017

[Behind the Wheel] Range Rover Velar, SUV built for dynamic urban driving

Yeongjongdo, INCHEON -- Amid a worldwide sport utility vehicle boom, Jaguar Land Rover Korea, the local importer and distributor of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, is slated to add a fourth Range Rover SUV, dubbed Velar, to its lineup next month to offer one of its best on-road SUVs, the company said Sunday. The Range Rover Velar on roads in Yongjong Island, Incheon (Jaguar Land Rover Korea)The launch comes as Korean motorists’ demand for midsize SUVs has been on the rise.Germany luxury BMW, for

Aug. 27, 2017

Hyundai develops automatic alarm system to better protect babies

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Sunday it will develop a technology that can enhance the safety of babies left unattended in the backseat. The Korean carmaker plans to gradually incorporate the "rear-seat passenger alert system" to its vehicles starting next year. It said the same features will be applied to car made by its sister company Kia Motors Corp.  This graphic image provided by Hyundai Motor Co. shows how its rear-seat passenger alert system works. (Yonh

Aug. 27, 2017

Sale of luxury SUVs grows in Korea

The sale of luxury sport-utility vehicles is on the rise in South Korea as an increasing number of local customers choose recreational vehicles over sedans, industry data showed Sunday. The global SUV market has grown rapidly in recent years, with the ratio of SUVs accounting for 25 percent of total vehicle sales in 2016, up from 17 percent in 2012, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Exporters Association.In South Korea, the SUV ratio also jumped to 41 percent last year fr

Aug. 27, 2017

Court to rule on Kia wages next week

A Seoul court is set to issue a ruling on the case involving wages at Kia Motors Corp. next week, a judiciary official said Thursday, a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for South Korean industries.Next Thursday, the Seoul Central District Court will decide whether to count "regular" bonuses at the carmaker as part of basic wages, the court spokesman Kim Shin-yoo said over the phone. In a text message sent to Yonhap News Agency, Kia Motors said, "Carmakers have little room to hi

Aug. 24, 2017

Hyundai, Kia face protracted slump in China

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. still struggled last month in China, posting a 37 percent on-year slump in their vehicle sales in the world's largest automotive market, industry data showed on Thursday.In July, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors sold a combined 70,017 vehicles there, down from 111,021 units a year earlier, the companies' data showed.  The results were mainly affected by political tensions between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a US missile defense system

Aug. 24, 2017

Hyundai Motor to launch pickup truck to boost US sales

Hyundai Motor‘s Santa Cruz crossover truck concept vehicle unveiled at the 2015 Detroit motor show. (Hyundai Motor Group)Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s No.1 automotive company, will tap into the pickup truck market in the US with the aim of boosting its sluggish sales there, the company said Wednesday.Michael J. O‘Brien, vice president of corporate and product planning at Hyundai Motor America, said the company’s top management in Seoul had approved plans to go ahead with pickup truck development,

Aug. 23, 2017

New GM Korea head to meet with labor union

Kaher Kazem, the newly appointed CEO of GM Korea, met with unionized workers of the company ahead of his inauguration next week, the company said Tuesday. At the meeting, the new local head is expected to ask the labor union for cooperation in improving the company’s competitiveness.Kazem will head GM India until the end of this month. He will begin his post as the new CEO of the Korean unit on Sept. 1, following James Kim.“The new CEO is currently going back and forth between India and Korea to

Aug. 22, 2017

Carmakers say industry backtracking on labor dispute

South Korea‘s auto industry has been backtracking on high cost and low productivity triggered by continuing labor disputes, CEOs of carmakers and partmakers said Tuesday.At a seminar held by Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the profit structure of the industry has been deteriorating due to rising labor costs despite the country suffers from declining auto production and exports. The escalating tension between the management and the labor over pay raises has made not only Korean carmak

Aug. 22, 2017

[Photo News] SsangYong Motor’s Rexton Trans-Eurasia Trail team travels Silk Road

ON SILKROAD -- A team of SsangYong Motor’s Rexton Trans-Eurasia Trail team travel parts of the Silk Road in eastern China that links Asia and Europe. Kicking off from Beijing on Aug. 11, the team is set to travel 18 cities in seven countries all the way to Europe, or about 10,000 kilometers, before its European debut in Frankfurt on Sept. 12. (SsangYong Motor)

Aug. 22, 2017

Hyundai, Kia become world’s No. 2 green carmaker

Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia together became the world’s second-largest green carmaker in the first half of the year, taking the No. 2 spot three years earlier than they had planned.　According to IHS Markit, Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 102,480 units of eco-friendly vehicles between January and June, a 126.1 percent increase from the same period last year and similar to their combined annual sales last year. The two carmaking units under Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s second-l

Aug. 22, 2017