After years of a high-pricing, premium strategy, South Korea’s top three battery makers -- LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On -- are increasingly turning their eyes to low-priced batteries in an apparent move to prevent ceding more market share to their fast-growing Chinese rivals in the soaring global electric vehicle market. SK On, a spinoff from SK Innovation, will unveil its first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, at this week’s InterBattery trade show that kicks off

Mobility March 12, 2023

Bentley Motors said Wednesday it has opened Bentley Cube, its first high-end retail showroom, in South Korea, catering to the fast-growing number of luxury customers craving exclusive experiences. Located in Gangnam, southern Seoul, the four-story flagship shop offers a private space for Bentley customers to enjoy the brand’s bespoke luxury lifestyle. “Korea is a leading country in luxury sales, the biggest market in the Asia-Pacific region. (The grand opening of Bentley Cube) is

Mobility March 8, 2023

Amid the budding efforts to patch up the rocky relationship between South Korea and Japan, major Korean firms are expected to see momentum grow for the revival of their ailing Japan business. Japan has long remained a graveyard for Korean companies, even for the most successful ones like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, because consumers there are known to prefer local brands and like Sony and Toyota -- who also happen to be Korean brands' archrivals in almost all sectors globally. Ov

Industry March 7, 2023

More than 7 in 10 cars sold by Hyundai Motor Group in the US were sport utility vehicles, according to the South Korean auto giant’s sales data unveiled Monday. In the first two months of this year, Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia sold a combined 162,632 SUVs in the all-important US market, an equivalent of 70.7 percent of its total sales of 230,000 vehicles. Hyundai and its luxury sibling Genesis sold 86,718 SUVs, while Kia sold 5,914 SUVs. It is the first time that the SUV

Mobility March 6, 2023

Tens of thousands of job seekers have flocked to the Hyundai Motor Group website after the carmaker announced it would recruit production line workers for the first time in a decade, the company said Friday. More than 30,000 people visited the carmaker's recruitment page on the first day of applications on Thursday, causing a server slowdown throughout the day, according to the company. On Friday, it took more than 20 minutes to load the webpage when The Korea Herald tried to access it arou

Mobility March 3, 2023

Last month, auto giants Renault and Nissan announced that they were reshaping their decades-old strategic alliance, calling Europe a top priority market in their renewed green push. With an Asia strategy missing in the landmark deal, experts here warn that Renault Korea Motors could be downgraded as a production base for the French carmaker unless sizeable investments are made in developing its own new cars. Decades-old alliance reshaped On Feb. 6, Renault and its Japanese partner Nissan u

Mobility March 2, 2023

Renault Korea said Tuesday its labor and management have agreed to join forces to push for the company’s Busan factory to become a global production base for the French carmaker. According to the company, Renault Korea CEO Stephan Deblaise and Kim Dong-suk, the labor union leader, signed a joint declaration that underscores a win-win partnership and mutual trust. “Based on renewed labor-management relations, we should fulfill our vision as one team. Without cooperation from the lab

Mobility Feb. 28, 2023

Competition for operational rights for lucrative duty-free shops at Incheon Airport is heating up, with China Duty Free Group, one of the largest duty-free retailers globally, joining the race. According to industry sources on Monday, CDFG offered its bid to join the heated race after participating in a tender briefing session last month. Competing head-on with Korean rivals such as Lotte, Shinsegae and Hotel Shilla, the Chinese duty-free giant aims to win as many as two business licenses to ope

Consumer Feb. 27, 2023

After years of supply chain disruptions and diplomatic tensions, Japanese auto giant Toyota is seeking a turnaround in Korea with its first offering to win back customers -- the new RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid, which combines the best qualities of gas and electric cars. The plug-in hybrid model is the latest addition to the carmaker’s popular RAV4 crossover utility vehicle lineup. In Korea, the self-charging RAV4 Hybrid was Toyota’s top-selling hybrid car last year, making up 43 percent of h

Mobility Feb. 26, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday that four of its cars -- Palisade, Sonata, Genesis G90 and Kia’s Telluride -- have won awards in a crash test held by the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, one of the industry's top safety honors. The Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride and Genesis G90 were named as Top Safety Pick+, the highest ranking, while Hyundai Sonata won the second-highest Top Safety Pick. The Telluride, in particular, received the highest rankings in every test category,

Mobility Feb. 26, 2023

LG Energy Solution said Wednesday it has forged a new partnership with Ford and KOC Holding, a Turkish real estate developer, to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Turkey, two weeks after similar talks fell apart between its crosstown rival SK On and the US auto giant. Under a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, the three companies agreed to build an EV battery plant in the Baskent region near the Turkish capital of Ankara. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 25 gi

Mobility Feb. 22, 2023

South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Wednesday it will carry out a mediation on a technological theft dispute between Lotte Healthcare and Algocare. The ministry plans to form a coordination group composed of three to five lawyers and other experts as early as this week to hold a technological dispute resolution proceeding for the two companies. Algocare, a local health care startup, recently raised suspicions over Lotte Healthcare’s showcase of an automatic nutrition

Industry Feb. 16, 2023

LG Energy Solution said Wednesday it will improve reporting on climate-related risks in accordance with the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures, or TCFD, the first of its kind among battery makers here. TCFD is an international organization created by the Group of 20’s Financial Stability Board in 2015. It recommends companies to disclose information on governance, strategies, risk management and management objectives connected to climate change. “We will manage and

Mobility Feb. 15, 2023

South Korean battery makers, who have poured considerable resources in the all-important US market, might lose ground over Ford’s new partnership deal with Chinese battery giant CATL, industry sources said Tuesday. On Monday, Ford announced it plans to invest $3.5 billion to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan using technology licensed from CATL, the world’s No. 1 EV battery maker. The automaker will operate the production facility through its wholly owned subsidiar

Mobility Feb. 14, 2023

Ray Pineault, CEO of Mohegan, the US-based global resort developer, has shared his vision for Asian expansion, unveiling the company’s ambitious plan to open a massive resort complex near Incheon International Airport, the nation’s main gateway, later this year. “We had already expanded internationally in North America when we entered into Canada. But the growth of tourism in Incheon and the amount of visitation that comes to Korea create tremendous opportunity for us to brin

Industry Feb. 12, 2023