LG Energy Solution shares close higher, beats market jitters

South Korean battery giant LG Energy Solution’s stocks stood strong on Monday, despite the end of a year-long lock-up period. The company’s shares rose by 0.79 percent to 510,000 won ($415.5) from the last trading day, according to the bourse operator Korea Exchange. The stocks tumbled by 3.16 percent to 490,000 won at one point in the morning but ticked upwards approximately one hour before the closing bell. Foreigners and institutions each bought 29.1 billion won and 15.9 billion w

Jan. 30, 2023

Samsung SDI hits W20tr in sales for first time

Samsung SDI said Monday it posted record-high earnings in both sales revenue and operating profit last year, largely driven by the surge in sales of value-added battery products. Revenue skyrocketed 48.5 percent to 20.1 trillion won ($16 billion) last year, while its operating profit jumped 9 percent to 1.8 trillion won. It is the first time sales have reached the 20 trillion won mark. Operating profit soared to new heights as well, surpassing the 1 trillion won mark for the second consecutive

Jan. 30, 2023

GM to debut all-electric Cadillac Lyriq in Korea this year

General Motors will launch its first Ultium platform-based electric sport utility vehicle, the Cadillac Lyriq, in South Korea later this year to expand its EV lineup in the country, the automaker announced Monday. Ultium refers to Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution established in 2019 to set up and operate battery cell manufacturing facilities in the US. The two share three EV battery plants, the first of which began operating in Ohio last year. The second and third

Jan. 30, 2023

[KH Explains] In land of Hyundai-Kia, smaller carmakers struggle for survival

SsangYong Motors, Renault Korea Motors and GM Korea are facing another challenging year ahead, with market leader Hyundai Motor Group’s big sales push showing little signs of abating. Hyundai and its smaller affiliate Kia, driven by demand for their full electric models, sold 688,884 and 541,068 vehicles, respectively, at home last year. Their market share stood strong at almost 90 percent in a market with a total of 1.39 million unit sales, excluding some 300,000 import car sales. For t

Jan. 29, 2023

Kia records highest yearly figures on sales growth

Kia, South Korea’s second-largest automaker, has raised its earnings target for this year after the company recorded its best-ever figures last year on strong sales. The company said Friday in a conference call that its annual revenue and operating profit had reached 86.6 trillion won ($70.3 billion) and 7.2 trillion won last year, respectively. The numbers increased by 23.9 percent and 42.8 percent each. The automaker sold 2.9 million cars worldwide in 2022, up 4.5 percent from the previo

Jan. 27, 2023

Hyundai Motor posts best-ever earnings on improved profitability

Hyundai Motor posted a record-high operating profit of 9.8 trillion won ($8 billion) last year as it sold almost 4 million vehicles across the world, the South Korean automaker said Thursday. Despite the global economic downturn, Hyundai Motor’s yearly sales also recorded 142.5 trillion won, up 21.2 percent on year to set a new high. With operating profit having shot up 47 percent on-year to an all-time high for the whole of 2022, the automaker said it was thanks to the strong dollar and i

Jan. 26, 2023

Hyundai-Kia EVs post double-digit market share in Europe

Hyundai Motor Group recorded double-digit market share last year in 10 European countries, stepping up as the fourth-largest carmaker to have sold battery-powered electric vehicles, data showed Wednesday. Hyundai and its affiliate Kia sold a total of 96,988 EVs with a 10 percent market share in 10 countries including Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain, according to the US-based automotive market tracker Clean Technica. These markets account for 64 percent of the total EV sales

Jan. 25, 2023

Import car sales hit record high in 2022

Imported car sales hit a record-high of nearly 300,000 here last year, driven by pent-up demand for luxury cars during the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Friday. Imported car brands’ sales in 2022 increased by 2.6 percent on-year to 283,435 units, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. When including the sales volume of 14,571 vehicles for Tesla, which was not counted by the association, the figure comes to 298,006 units, a twofold

Jan. 24, 2023

Hyundai surpasses 1 million EV sales

Global cumulative sales of Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicles have surpassed the 1 million milestone, according to the South Korean automaker Tuesday. The automaker achieved the milestone 11 years after it began selling EVs in 2011. Hyundai Motor and its premium brand Genesis have sold 601,448 EVs while Kia has sold 420,836 EVs. The carmaker sold 236 units of its first EV, the BlueOn, in 2011. EV sales figures began to show meaningful growth when Kia released Soul EV, a compact sport

Jan. 24, 2023

Imported car sales hit record high in 2022

Imported car sales hit a record-high of nearly 300,000 here last year, driven by pent-up demand for luxury cars during the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Friday. Imported car brands’ sales in 2022 increased by 2.6 percent on-year to 283,435 units, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. Adding the sales volume of 14,571 vehicles for Tesla, which was not counted by the association, the figure came to 298,006 units, increasing twofold

Jan. 20, 2023

Korean Air to resume more European routes in spring

Korean Air said Friday it will resume services to four major destinations in Europe starting from March. After a 3-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the airline will restart the Prague and Zurich routes from March, followed by the resumption of the Istanbul and Madrid routes from April. Starting from late March, Prague and Zurich routes will be operated 3 times a week, taking turns with a day’s interval. Flights to Istanbul and Madrid are arranged to open on late April -- following the same

Jan. 20, 2023

SK On-Urbix to develop EV battery materials

South Korean battery maker SK On said Thursday it has partnered up with US-based battery materials manufacturer Urbix to develop ecofriendly anode materials for electric vehicle batteries. Under the two years of joint development agreement, SK On will apply anode materials produced by Urbix using refined graphite to its lithium-ion batteries and work on improving battery performance. If successful, the battery maker will consider using Urbix’s anode materials in its US battery factories,

Jan. 19, 2023

[Photo News] World Expo bid

Hyundai Motor Group on Wednesday displayed Genesis X, a concept electric vehicle, at the Korea Night event held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to promote the country's bid to host the World Expo 2030 in the southern port city of Busan, the automaker said Thursday. A total of 58 Hyundai Motor vehicles wrapped with the slogan "World Expo 2030 Busan, Korea" has been driving around the Swiss city this week to help Korea's bidding campaign.

Jan. 19, 2023

[Photo News] World's first ammonia-powered truck

Amogy, a US clean energy startup, has successfully conducted a test drive of the world's first ammonia-powered, zero-emission semi truck, SK Innovation said Wednesday. The semi truck secured 900 kilowatt-hours of net electric energy after eight minutes of fueling process that used Amogy's ammonia-to-fuel technology. SK Innovation invested $30 million in Amogy in June last year.

Jan. 18, 2023

Facelifted Hyundai Kona aims to redefine compact SUVs

Hyundai Motor Group on Wednesday launched the all-new Kona, a second-generation subcompact sport utility vehicle, with an aim to set new standards for small SUVs. “Kona is Hyundai Motor’s most iconic SUV. We took the creative design of the existing model and applied a new method of designing the electric vehicle first and putting it on the internal combustion engine model later to create a more futuristic design,” said Chang Jae-hoon, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor, in a me

Jan. 18, 2023

Kia to build first new Korean factory in 26 years

Kia, an affiliate under the leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Group, said Tuesday it has decided to build a new car plant in South Korea, an outcome of yearslong negotiations with its labor union. With the construction set to start in the first quarter of this year, the upcoming plant will become Kia’s first new factory to be built in Korea in 26 years. Kia and the labor union agreed on producing 200,000 electrified purpose-built vehicles a year in the long term, gradually expanding productio

Jan. 17, 2023

Korea tops Bentley’s Asia-Pacific sales

South Korea topped Bentley’s Asia-Pacific market in 2022 as Korean customers purchased almost 40 percent of all Bentley vehicles sold in the region last year, Bentley Motors Korea said Tuesday. Citing the data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, the high-end automaker said Korean customers bought a total of 775 Bentleys, about a 53 percent increase on year. It marked the country’s second consecutive year to have posted its best sales figure after 506 Ben

Jan. 17, 2023

Hyundai promotes Busan's Expo bid at Davos

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday it would operate 58 vehicles during the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos this week to promote South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan. As a means to echo Busan’s sustainability vision for the World Expo, the carmaker offered 45 EV models. The list includes the luxury brand Genesis’ 18 Electrified G80, 8 Electrified GV60, 4 Electrified GV70 and Hyundai’s 15 Santa Fe Plugin Hybrid models. The cars, wrapped wi

Jan. 16, 2023

[Photo News] Back to normal

Asiana Airlines workers on Monday add more seats to an A330 aircraft that has been used as a cargo airplane during the coronavirus pandemic. The airliner said it has completed renovation work on a total of seven A350 and A330 airplanes in preparation for a recovery in international travel. Despite pandemic disruptions, the company could earn additional revenue worth 370 billion won ($300 million) from cargo shipping.

Jan. 16, 2023

[From the scene] Hyundai crashes Ioniq 5 to demonstrate EV battery safety

HWASEONG, Gyeonggi Province -- Despite burgeoning demand for electric vehicles, one key concern among consumers is the huge high-voltage battery pack carries a fire risk. In an apparent move to ease such concerns and show off its latest safety technology, Hyundai Motor Group conducted a rare crash test of its bestselling Ioniq 5 EV in front of the media Thursday. During the test performed at the carmaker’s Namyang Technology Institute in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, the Ioniq 5, built

Jan. 15, 2023