Volvo is close to catching up to German automaker Audi, which kept its title as the third top selling foreign car brand in South Korea, data showed Monday. According to Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, Volvo Korea sold a total of 1,332 units in April overtaking Audi Korea which sold 1,051 units the same month. Compared to sales in March, Volvo Korea saw a 1.8 percent on-month sales increase in April while Audi Korea’s sales dropped by 9 percent. In April, Volvo

Mobility May 16, 2022

On news reports that South Korea’s auto giant Hyundai Motor is set to announce a $7 billion investment plan in US, market experts said Friday that the carmaker appears to have done the math: lucrative state incentives, tax benefits, growing demand for electric vehicles and perhaps, proximity of battery supply from its fellow South Korean company SK Innovation. The world’s fifth-largest carmaker will unveil the plan to build an EV plant during US president Joe Biden’s state vis

Mobility May 13, 2022

Korea Aerospace Industries is seeking to expand to Central Europe, the firm said Thursday, as it promoted the homegrown FA-50 light attack fighter during the International Defense Exhibition Bratislava 2022 in Slovakia. “We are prioritizing looking for new markets in Central Europe for FA-50 as the recent accelerated formation of a new Cold War structure is resulting in an increase of defense spending to realize self-defense in many parts of the world,” said a KAI official. The na

Industry May 12, 2022

By 2025, flying taxis, or urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, in South Korea could be accessed at gas stations located near major cities. Oil refiner GS Caltex, along with five leading companies in telecom, mobility and airline businesses, have formed a consortium to jump into the future mobility market together on Tuesday. The five other firms are telecom company LG Uplus, taxi-hailing app Kakao Mobility, domestic drone solutions company Pablo Air, low-cost carrier Jeju Air, and British UAM man

Industry May 11, 2022

Samsung C&T Corp., the construction unit of Samsung Group, has partnered with NuScale, the leading small modular reactor (SMR) technology provider, to expand its SMR business into the global market. Samsung C&T CEO Oh Se-chul and NuScale CEO John Hopkins gathered at the headquarters of NuScale Power in the US state of Oregon on Monday to form a comprehensive partnership for joint global SMR market development and expansion. Samsung C&T has been continuously enhancing its strategic

Industry May 10, 2022

Daewoo Engineering & Construction has teamed up with its parent company Jungheung Group to accelerate its business expansion in the all-important US market. According to Daewoo E&C on Monday, Jungheung Group Vice Chairman Jung Won-ju and its business delegation signed a memorandum of understanding with the city of Carrollton, Texas last Thursday to carry out development projects in the US city. Carrollton, located near Dallas, has one of the most developed Korean American communities

Industry May 9, 2022

SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island -- For Jeju, the goal of achieving carbon neutrality will not be achieved only through promoting electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, but also from recycling used batteries. The EV Battery Industrialization Center of Jeju Technopark is on a mission to extend the resort island‘s green efforts by collecting used EV batteries and reusing them. The agency is the only public entity, funded by both the local and central government, in South Korea seeking ways to make t

Industry May 8, 2022

Over 5,000 “supercars,” those worth around 300 million won ($230,000), have been registered as corporate cars in South Korea, according to the National Assembly Budget Office on Sunday. The data showed that the number of super expensive imported cars bought by corporations have quadrupled over the past six years from 1,172 to 5,075 units. Since 2016, the number of corporate supercars have shown an average increase of 32.2 percent. Imported cars worth between 200 and 300 million wo

Mobility May 8, 2022

Hyundai Motor’s first all-electric vehicle Ioniq 5 is set to hit some 90,000 unit sales globally since its launch a year ago. According to the carmaker on Thursday, the electric midsize crossover utility vehicle sold 88,871 units – 33,212 units at home and 55,658 units abroad – as of March this year. The Ioniq 5 made its debut in April last year, becoming the first car to be running on Hyundai’s own EV platform, called the Electric-Global Modular Platform, or E-GMP.

Mobility May 5, 2022

Gimpo International Airport in Seoul is resuming the long-stalled operation of international flights from June, starting with popular routes between South Korea and Japan. According to the Transport Ministry on Thursday, several South Korean and Japanese air carriers such as Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways have filed applications to resume international flights at the airport. Gimpo Airport in western Seoul, one of the nation’s main gateways along with

Mobility May 5, 2022

SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island -- The International Electric Vehicle Expo, an annual exhibition of green cars, kicked off Tuesday for its ninth run bringing around 200,000 industry experts and visitors from around 50 countries to the South Korean island of Jeju. While the expo preparation committee had promised to expand the participation of finished car brands this year, only two, Tesla and Polestar, took part in this year’s event. But the chairman stressed that they must also focus on giving S

Industry May 3, 2022

American Chamber of Commerce in Korea suggested lifting regulations to make Korea an attractive investment destination for global companies to the new incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration Friday. The AmCham Board of Governors sent a letter signed by its 34 members to the Transition Committee with some policy recommendations. They include the need to improve the flexibility of employment conditions, mitigate CEO risk, restore the flat tax rate for foreign residents and improve the regulatory e

Industry April 29, 2022

The Genesis GV70 3.5T Sport was rated as the best sports utility vehicle by Car and Driver, an American auto magazine, outpacing BMW X3 M40i and the Lexus RX350 F Sport, Hyundai Motor said Friday. Car and Driver evaluated these three cars based on four categories including vehicle, powertrain, chassis, and experience. Genesis GV70 3.5T Sport took the throne with a total score of 213 out of 240, followed by BMW X3 which scored 205, and Lexus RX350 178. The new luxury compact crossover under Ge

Mobility April 29, 2022

South Korean electric cable manufacturer LS Group has launched a subsidiary to run electric vehicle charging business, officials said Thursday. The new unit, LS E-Link, was jointly established by LS, the holding company, and E1, an LPG importer unit under the group. “As EV transition accelerates, power usage will grow in EV charging stations which means that power engineering will become more important for stable and efficient power supply,” said an LS Group official. LS‘ st

Industry April 28, 2022

Kia has partnered up with The Ocean Cleanup, a Netherlands-based nonprofit engineering environmental organization, to remove plastic wastes from the sea for a sustainable Earth, according to Kia on Thursday. The Ocean Cleanup develops cleanup systems to remove floating pieces of plastic caught in what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean -- and also scalable solutions to efficiently intercept plastic in rivers before it reaches

Industry April 28, 2022