[Behind the Wheel] Hyundai’s compact SUV Casper makes splash

South Korea has long been in love with large luxury cars. Compact cars, despite their practicality and suitability for city traffic, are regarded as only for rookies, or those with thin wallets. But that’s before Casper. Hyundai Motor’s first A-segment release in 19 years, the mini sport utility vehicle has President Moon Jae-in, among others, signed up for preorders. It is creating buzz unseen for many years in the compact car segment for its unique, toy-like design and funct

Sept. 29, 2021

[Newsmaker] Transport ministry lays out plans for ‘flying taxis’ in 2025

Urban air mobility, which has been described as ‘flying taxis,’ is on course to become a reality in Korea in 2025 as the Transport Ministry outlined the timeline in a white paper released on Tuesday. According to the paper, an air corridor will be built for drone taxis to fly between Seoul and the outskirts of the city, including Incheon International Airport, during the early stages of the project. The UAM aircraft will be allowed to fly at an altitude of 450 meters with a margin

Sept. 28, 2021

Elon Musk says chip shortage only 'short term'

TURIN (AFP) -- Tesla boss Elon Musk on Friday said that a global semiconductor shortage hitting car firms especially hard would be overcome soon. The chip drought is "short term, I think," the billionaire said in an appearance by video at Italian Tech Week in Turin. "There are a lot of chip fabrication plants that are being built," Musk told the audience of startups, investment funds and tech entrepreneurs. "I think we will have good capacity for providing chips by ne

Sept. 24, 2021

[Herald Interview] ‘Designing user experience key to business success’

Technology is advancing at a dizzying speed, bringing future mobility closer to us. Scenes of driverless vehicles cruising down smart roads and up in the skies no longer sound like science fiction. Against such a backdrop, the idea of design should go beyond just making products look good. It should also be about planning the experience of users, says Kwon Young-jin, who leads Hyundai Motor Group’s Zer01ne Playground, an open innovation platform. “Hyundai Motor Group seeks to rep

Sept. 23, 2021

More travelers to fly to Saipan as travel demand grows

A growing number of people in South Korea are planning to travel to Saipan via a travel bubble amid rising vaccination rates and extended benefits offered for travelers. According to Asiana Airlines on Thursday, over 1,000 bookings have been made for flights to Saipan scheduled throughout the rest of the year. An Asiana flight to Sapian last Saturday, just ahead of the Chuseok holiday, had 150 passengers on board, accounting for 85 percent of bookings. With more than 9 in 10 people on board

Sept. 23, 2021

Eastar Jet submits restructuring plans to court

Eastar Jet Co., a debt-ridden South Korean budget carrier, said Friday it has submitted restructuring plans to a bankruptcy court to finalize an acquisition deal with a local property developer, aiming to resume flights next year. Eastar Jet submitted its debt repayment and other rehabilitation plans to the Seoul Bankruptcy Court, three months after Sung Jung Co. signed a deal to buy an 80 percent stake in the low-cost carrier for 108.7 billion won ($97 million). Eastar is required to first

Sept. 17, 2021

Hyundai, Boston Dynamics unveil factory safety robot

Hyundai Motor Group has begun test operating a robot to inspect safety at its automotive plant, in collaboration with robotics startup Boston Dynamics, the group said Friday. Hyundai Motor Group, which operates two leading automotive companies Hyundai Motor and Kia, said it has deployed Spot, Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robot, to inspect safety at Kia AutoLand Gwangmyeong, Kia’s automotive plant facility in Gyeonggi Province. It is the first joint project between Hyundai and Bosto

Sept. 17, 2021

Genesis to implement face recognition tech in GV60 for first time

Genesis will implement face recognition technology on its GV60, the brand’s first electric sport utility vehicle planned, Hyundai Motor, the firm behind the automobile brand, said Thursday. According to the automaker, the new technology dubbed Face Connect will allow drivers to control a car -- opening the door and starting the car -- using their biometric data instead of a smart key. This would allow the driver to close the car with the smart key inside, or not need to carry keys at a

Sept. 16, 2021

Volvo Korea, SKT work together for smarter XC60

Volvo Korea unveiled the latest face-lifted version of its flagship sport utility vehicle XC60, equipped with a new smart car system developed in partnership with South Korean mobile carrier, SKT. “Cars no longer only have the function of transportation. It’s a means of one’s lifestyle experience. We hope (the new XC60) becomes a trendsetter in this new wave of change,” said Lee Yoon-mo, CEO of Volvo Cars Korea, during an online meeting with the press on Tuesday. The

Sept. 14, 2021

[From the scene] AMG Seoul offers adrenaline thrill

From the lighting down to the sparkling floor that resembles the asphalt of a racing circuit, AMG Seoul is all about the heart-racing experience it offers high-performance car enthusiasts.  Korea's first AMG Brand Center -- a special dealership store for Mercedes-AMG vehicles -- opened Aug. 5, presenting some of the German automaker’s most distinctive high-performance vehicles. The center, located in Seoul’s Gangnam area, is the brand’s sixth dealership store in the wo

Sept. 14, 2021

Luxury imported cars see record sales in August

Consumer appetite for expensive imported cars is bigger than ever in South Korea. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association on Monday, total sales of imported cars with a retail price exceeding 100 million won ($85,156) as of August jumped 65.5 percent on-year. The total number of vehicles in that price range sold in the first eight months of the year was 45,042. This exceeds the total number of high-end imported cars sold in all of 2020, when sales

Sept. 13, 2021

Home shopping rises as new way to buy a car

The ways to buy a car are expanding into the non-face-to-face realms of home shopping TV networks and dedicated websites, taking the hassle out of having to visit a dealership for a new set of wheels. Renault Samsung Motors said Sunday it is launching the Master van on GS Retail’s home shopping channel GS My Shop after it saw successful sales of its electric vehicle Zoe in July. The automaker said they decided to expand the sales route to home shopping programs for the 15-person van am

Sept. 12, 2021

Talks fall through, keeping local carmakers out of secondhand car market

Talks between major automakers and the secondhand car industry have fallen through, stalling the process of opening the market to carmakers, sources close to the matter said Friday. Final negotiations took place Thursday, mediated by a committee dedicated to finding common ground, but to no avail. The issue will now be handled by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The committee was launched in June in hopes of an agreement between carmakers and used car businesses within three months. Though

Sept. 10, 2021

[Newsmaker] Wireless EV charging service and 9 others approved under regulatory sandbox

Hyundai Motor’s plans to develop a remote charging system for battery-powered electric vehicles has been given a go-ahead from the Korean government, it was announced Thursday. The wireless EV charging system is among the 10 pilot projects granted a regulatory sandbox, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the sandbox support center at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The regulatory sandbox measure, introduced in 2019, seeks to foster new business

Sept. 9, 2021

[Herald Interview] Edison Motors chief counters skepticism over SsangYong bid

“A shrimp trying to swallow a whale.” Critics invoked that old Korean saying when Edison Motors jumped in the race to acquire the cash-strapped SsangYong Motor. But Kang Young-kwon, the local electric bus manufacturer’s founder and CEO, is confident that his company’s expertise in electric vehicle production is enough to infuse life into SsangYong. “The days of internal combustion engine vehicles are numbered. I believe it is crucial that an electric vehicle c

Sept. 9, 2021

BMW Korea upgrades after-sales service apps, accelerates digitization

BMW Group Korea will upgrade and relaunch its two after service mobile apps, as the carmaker bids to turn all aftersale services digital. The new BMW Plus and Mini Plus will be key platforms for the company’s digital and contactless after-sales service business, it said. 　 With the upgrade, an expanded number of services can be reserved in real time, explained the carmaker, which includes general maintenance, parts replacements and recall services. Customers can also select a service ad

Sept. 9, 2021

Open skies: ‘Flying vehicles’ will solve side effects of hyperurbanization

SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island -- Urban air mobility is the ultimate solution to the side effects of hyperurbanization, and businesses and governments alike should work together to open up the skyway, a Hyundai Motor executive in charge of the UAM business said Wednesday. “Urbanization is rapidly progressing around the world, and the serious traffic congestions around the world is becoming real problems of economic and human losses,” Shin Jai-won, chief of the automaker’s Urban Air M

Sept. 8, 2021

EV Expo expands scope of e-mobility

SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island -- Amid accelerating global efforts to go carbon-neutral, global automakers are pushing pure electric vehicles into the mainstream, to fundamentally change the face of mobility. The 8th International Electric Vehicle Expo, which kicked off on Tuesday on the southern island of Jeju, seeks to expand the scope of e-mobility, shedding light on other means of transportation, including ships and urban air mobility. “The goal of a carbon-free island cannot be done

Sept. 7, 2021

[News Focus] What’s stopping Hyundai, Kia from selling used cars?

BMW sells used BMW cars. Tesla is set to offer secondhand Tesla cars directly to local consumers soon. But Hyundai and Kia, the two local brands that together carry out nearly 80 percent of new car sales here, aren’t in the used car industry yet. Legally, nothing stops them from selling used cars. In 2019 the country lifted a 2013 ban intended to protect microenterprises. But due to the continued protests of small used car players, the discussion has not made any progress. Late la

Sept. 6, 2021

Korean Air teams up with SK Energy for ‘carbon-neutral’ flight

Korean Air said Monday that it had joined hands with petroleum and refinery company SK Energy to launch carbon-neutral jet fuel in an effort to tackle climate change. Under the partnership, the airline will purchase a month’s worth of carbon-neutral jet fuel for domestic flights departing from Jeju and Cheongju. Carbon-neutral jet fuel can be achieved when enough carbon credits are purchased to offset the total carbon footprint produced through fuel production, transport and consumption

Sept. 6, 2021