Korean Air, Asiana to merge under one brand in 2024: Korean Air president

Korean Air aims to launch a single integrated entity with Asiana Airlines, its biggest acquisition to date, in 2024, its chief executive president said Wednesday. Explaining to reporters the post-merger integration plan, which it reported to Asiana’s main creditor earlier this month, Woo Kee-hong said Asiana Airlines would operate as a subsidiary of Korean Air for two years before being integrated into one brand. “Once Asiana Airlines become a subsidiary of Korean Air, the proces

March 31, 2021

Genesis showcases luxury EV concept coupe

Genesis, the independent luxury brand of Hyundai Motor Co., on Wednesday unveiled a premium electric concept car ahead of the launch of the brand's first electric vehicle later this year. The Genesis X, showcased in a digital event and an offline debut in Los Angeles, is an EV-based high-performance Gran Turismo coupe and the brand's fifth concept car, Hyundai Motor said. The two-line lighting motif, applied throughout the interior and exterior, embodies the design language of future Genesis E

March 31, 2021

Hyundai to suspend Ioniq 5 production on chip shortage

Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday it will suspend production at a domestic plant that produces the Ioniq 5 all-electric model due to a chip shortage. Hyundai plans to halt the operation of the No. 1 plant in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which also produces the Kona subcompact SUV, due to lack of parts from April 7-14, a company spokesman said over the phone. The decision comes amid a lack of semiconductor parts used in the Kona's front vehicle camera system and a problem in Hyundai M

March 30, 2021

Incheon Airport: Korea’s main airport marks 20 years as global hub

Incheon Airport marked its 20th anniversary of operations on Monday. Since its opening two decades ago as the country’s main gateway airport, it has become one of the busiest in the world, connecting 255 flights between 63 countries. In 2019, the airport boasted the third-largest cargo traffic and the fifth-largest volume of international traffic, according to Incheon International Airport Corp., the airport’s operator, based on data from Airports Council International. President

March 29, 2021

Hankook Tire builds excellence in high performance tires

Hankook Tire & Technology, the world‘s sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, has spent time and resources in research and development of high performance tires in order to sharpen its competitive edge over global rivals. That investment seems to have paid off, as the firm has landed a series of original equipment tire supply deals for some of the finest cars in the world. According to the Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province-based firm, Hankook’s tires have been chosen for the most advan

March 28, 2021

BMW Korea to introduce new cars, service centers to improve customer satisfaction

BMW Group Korea will introduce 10 new cars to local customers this year, including electric vehicles and new Mini models, and will expand its facilities here, adding new service centers, showrooms and expanding its existing logistic center to improve customer satisfaction, the automaker said Sunday. In its first launch this year, the automaker in February rolled out the second-generation BMW 4 Series, to which the brand’s new “design language” has been applied. The renewed

March 28, 2021

Korean Air’s Cho Won-tae survives proxy vote, remains CEO

Cho Won-tae, CEO of the nation’s flag carrier Korean Air and its holding Hanjin Group, has been reappointed to lead the company, despite the country’s pension fund operator’s disapproval in doing so. Shareholders in attendance at the meeting on Friday, or those who had submitted a proxy statement in advance, represented 56.91 percent in terms of shares. Nearly 83 percent of the shareholders with voting rights voted in favor of Cho, the company said. The National Pension Servi

March 26, 2021

Hyundai Glovis open for break-bulk transport

Hyundai Glovis is expanding its cargo business to use its pure car and truck carriers for break-bulk transport to diversify its business portfolio, the company said Thursday. As freight owners are experiencing shortage of shipping containers, Hyundai Glovis seeks to utilize its car and truck carriers, the vehicle delivery arm of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, explained. Break-bulk shipping is transporting cargo or goods that cannot fit in standard-size shipping containers or cargo

March 25, 2021

What lies in future for Korean Air?

Battered by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent traveling limits, South Korea’s national flag carrier Korean Air hit the rockiest patch of its half-century history last year. While there seems to be hope on the horizon on the back of the acquisition of longtime rival Asiana Airlines, the air carrier is still looking at another challenging year -- this time due to the uncertainty of the post-coronavirus recovery and slow vaccine distribution. In the latest developments

March 24, 2021

Incheon Airport to host aviation conference in celebration of 20th anniversary

Incheon International Airport Corp. will host the fifth Annual World Aviation Conference on Monday in celebration of its 20th anniversary. The event, which will take place at Paradise City in Incheon and will be livestreamed on YouTube for seven hours, will focus on the age of coronavirus and the post-pandemic future of the aviation industry and airports around the world, the corporation said. Dubbed “Innovation Beyond Boundaries: The New Airport Paradigm,” the event will feature s

March 24, 2021

Han Sung Motor’s art scholarship evolves

Han Sung Motor’s unique art scholarship program, which supports 40 young students a year to foster their artistic dreams, has reached a 10-year milestone this year. Looking ahead to the next decade, the official dealership for Mercedes-Benz here has launched the Dream Gream 2.0, an upgrade to the program that chief executive Ulf Ausprung designed and introduced back in 2012. The Dream Gream 2.0 adds a variety of new activities to the existing program in order to benefit not just the c

March 24, 2021

Preorders for new K8 highest among all Kia sedans

Kia Corp.'s new large sedan, the K8, received a strong response from the domestic market, with first-day preorders setting a record high among its sedan models, the nation's No. 2 carmaker said Wednesday. Kia started receiving orders for the K8, a direct follow-up to the K7, known as the Cadenza in the United States, on Monday ahead of the model's domestic launch slated for early April. Preorders for the K8 reached 18,015 units on the first day, outpacing the K5's preorders of 7,003 units in N

March 24, 2021

Low-cost carriers burdened by high debt on pandemic impact

South Korean low-cost carriers (LCCs) are struggling with high indebtedness stemming from huge deficits due to the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The debt-to-equity ratio of three major LCCs -- Jeju Air Co., Jin Air Co. and T'way Air Co. -- ranged from 430 percent to 517 percent as of the end of 2020, according to their business reports. A key barometer of financial soundness, the ratio is calculated by dividing a company's total liabilities by its stockholders' equity. Jeju Air

March 24, 2021

Kumho Tire to sell rubber processing plant in Vietnam

Kumho Tire said Tuesday it will sell its natural rubber processing plant in Vietnam to focus on its core business. The second-largest tire maker in South Korea said it has struck a deal with a joint venture between Korean automaker Hyundai Motor and Thanh Cong Group of Vietnam to sell its rubber factory. It plans to finalize the deal by May. The company opened the $4 million factory in southeastern Vietnam in 2007, which can supply rubber for 6 million tires a year.  The tire maker has b

March 23, 2021

SsangYong Motor's 2020 financial report rejected by auditor

SsangYong Motor's annual financial report was rejected by its external auditor due to its heavy debt, the cash-strapped automaker said Tuesday. SsangYong Motor, the South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra, said in a regulatory briefing that Samjong KPMG gave a disclaimer of opinion for its 2020 financial report, questioning its ability to continue its business. The SUV-focused automaker logged 449.4 billion won ($398 million) in operating losses last year, increasing

March 23, 2021

Hyundai, Kia’s RV sales account for over half of sales so far this year

In a company first, recreational vehicles accounted for more than half of Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp.’s annual sales so far this year, the automakers said Sunday. According to the latest sales data, Hyundai Motor sold 87,923 vehicles during the first two months of this year, of which 41,027 units were classified as recreational vehicles, accounting for 46.7 percent. Recreational vehicles by Korean classification are designed for recreational purposes such as camping and include the likes

March 21, 2021

Genesis GV80 SUV earns IIHS top crash safety award

The Genesis GV80 sport utility vehicle earned the highest crash safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday. The South Korean carmaker produces the luxury SUV and high-end sedans under its independent Genesis brand. The IIHS has added its own seal of approval to the GV80 only a few weeks after golf great Tiger Woods unintentionally put the flagship SUV in the spotlight by demonstrating its crashworthiness. The GV80 earned the Top Safet

March 19, 2021

Volkswagen Passat GT at forefront for ‘democratization’ of imported car market

With advanced driver assistance systems and a great price, Volkswagen’s Passat GT stands as the flagship model leading the “democratization” of the imported car market, Volkswagen Korea said Wednesday. The German automaker said the newest model of the eighth-generation Passat GT is a reasonable choice for those looking for a sedan with good value, available at lower prices than its rivals, but not missing out on the latest technologies. In 2018, Volkswagen Korea set a goal

March 17, 2021

Kumho Tire’s Ecsta HS51 receives top award in summer tire test by Auto Bild

Kumho Tire’s best-selling tire Ecsta HS51 ranked No. 1 in the latest contest for summer tires, and gained an “Exemplary” rating by Auto Bild, the company said Wednesday. Auto Bild, a renowned German publication, recently compared dry and wet braking performances of 53 summer tires sold in Europe. There, Ecsta HS51, which is Kumho’s best-selling model in the European market, was awarded the first place, beating rivals such as Michelin, Continental and Bridgestone, Kum

March 17, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding delivers submarine to Indonesia

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Wednesday it has successfully delivered a submarine to Indonesia. The 1,400-ton submarine was the third of three submarines that Daewoo Shipbuilding won in a deal worth $1.1 billion in 2011, the shipbuilder said. The 61-meter-long submarine, named ALUGORO, was based on Daewoo Shipbuilding's first-built submarine, the Jangbogo, the company said. The submarine was built in pieces at Okpo shipyard of Daewoo Shipbuilding in Geoje Island, about

March 17, 2021