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

Mobility Sept. 29, 2021

A new law aimed at improving safety and protection for employees from industrial accidents by punishing those responsible has been endorsed by the Cabinet on Tuesday, despite criticisms from both employer and employee groups. President Moon Jae-in and his Cabinet members approved the enforcement decree for the so-called workplace disaster law, paving the way for its effectuation in January. The law itself passed the National Assembly in January. It seeks to enhance safety management by incre

Industry Sept. 28, 2021

In this time of escalating rivalry for technology hegemony, it is crucial for countries to stake claims on advanced technologies in core industries in order to survive the patent war, South Korea’s intellectual property agency chief said Monday. As for South Korea, the country should work on improving research and development productivity, and also utilize big data analytics for patent protection, Kim Yong-rae, commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said in an interview

Industry Sept. 28, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 23, 2021

Posco said Friday it has established a 1 million-ton production facility for giga steel, an ultrahigh-strength steel product used for cars. Amid the expanding global market for eco-friendly cars and rising demand for lightweight vehicles, Posco said it has invested about 500 billion won ($425 million) since 2017 to build and expand the production facility for the high-strength steel inside the Gwangyang steel mill in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. “Since its first production of steel

Industry Sept. 17, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 17, 2021

SKC, the chemical affiliate of SK Group, will cooperate with Kuwait’s state-operated petrochemical giant Petrochemical Industries Company to expand its environment-friendly plastic business in Kuwait, the company said on Friday. PIC is the world’s fifth petrochemical firm by production volume. SKC and PIC established the joint venture SK picglobal in March 2020. SKC said the company inked a memorandum of understanding with PIC and SK picglobal in Los Angeles on Thursday there to

Industry Sept. 17, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 16, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 14, 2021

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is probing Kakao Group founder Kim Beom-su for alleged misreporting of the company’s de facto holding company in violation of the country’s fair trade act. According to industry insiders on Monday, the antitrust watchdog recently conducted site investigations at Kakao Corp. and K Cube Holdings, after finding that the group has left out necessary information or falsely reported about K Cube Holdings, an investment firm fully owned by Kim, o

Industry Sept. 13, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 12, 2021

“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

Mobility Sept. 9, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 8, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 7, 2021

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

Mobility Sept. 6, 2021