South Korean trading firm Posco International said Thursday that it has completed an acquisition of Australian energy company Senex Energy, as part of its effort to put more focus in eco-friendly energy businesses.  The Korean firm clinched a deal in December last year with Senex Energy to own 50.1 percent of shares of the Australian company at 405 billion won ($334 million). It took three months to receive authorities’ approval. The latest acquisition marks the company’s fir

Industry March 31, 2022

South Korean construction management firm Hanmi Global said Wednesday that it has won an order from SK Nexilis to manage the copper foil making unit of SKC Group’s new plant in Poland that has an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons.  Located in an industrial complex in Stalowa Wola, southeastern Poland, the plant will start mass production of copper foils – a key material for anode of electric vehicle batteries – from as early as 2014.  Under the deal, Hanmi

Industry March 30, 2022

Hyundai Glovis, a logistics arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday that it has established a firefighting plan for vehicles that are transported on cargo ships, a customized system to prevent risk of fire caught on electric vehicles on board a vessel. According to the company, it will place special equipment such as fire cover and water mist nozzle at all of its car-carrying ships. By putting this specially-coated cloth on a vehicle caught fire, the flow of oxygen will instantly stop and

Industry March 30, 2022

Posco said Tuesday it has launched a new committee to act as a control tower that supervises carbon neutrality efforts across affiliates and makes timely decisions under its goal of going carbon neutral by 2050. “Posco requires a prompt decision-making process to proactively respond to global needs for carbon neutrality efforts, as well as to accelerate our production system based on carbon neutrality goals by 2050,” said Posco Vice Chairman Kim Hag-dong, who leads the new committe

Industry March 29, 2022

South Korean mid-sized automaker Edison Motors’ proposed acquisition of SsangYong Motor has been cancelled due to payment failure, putting the debt-laden SUV maker’s journey to search for new owner back to starting line. 　 According to SsangYong Motor on Monday, its acquisition contract with a consortium led by Edison Motors was terminated after the buyer failed to pay 274.3 billion won ($223.7 million) by March 25, the deadline date designated by the Seoul Bankruptcy Court to pay

Mobility March 28, 2022

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that its flagship electric vehicle Ioniq 5 has ranked top in German automotive magazine Auto Bild’s EV test, beating other European rivals such as Audi Q4 e-tron and Polestar 2. In the latest edition of Auto Bild, the vehicles were tested and evaluated based on seven categories including performance of powertrain, driving comfort, connectivity, eco-friendliness and price competitiveness.  Ioniq 5 ranked top in four categories with a total of 573

Mobility March 28, 2022

Despite COVID-19’s lingering impact on the South Korean economy, the country saw a 4 percent growth last year, exhibiting a moderate performance on the back of strong exports and rebound of the global economy. But mom-and-pop businesses, mostly those in the food and beverage industry, have been severely hit by repeated rounds of restrictions on business hours. The pandemic has forced restaurants here to close by 9 p.m. each day under a business curfew, which was introduced to blunt a re

Industry March 27, 2022

The South Korean government on Friday lifted an overseas travel ban on GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem, almost 16 months after the Australian GM executive was barred from leaving the country on charges of illegally outsourcing labor. Kazen is currently standing trial for violating labor laws after the carmaker was found to have hired some 1,719 workers from 24 subcontractors to work at its local plants between September 2017 and December 2020. The Seoul headquarters is suspected to have directly inst

Mobility March 25, 2022

Posco Holdings said Thursday that construction of a plant in Argentina kicked off to commercialize lithium, a key material for electric vehicle battery production.  With the lithium extraction plant in Argentina and Posco’s mining rights in the South American country, the company will be able to entirely manage production of lithium hydroxide, which is used in the production of cathode material for lithium-ion EV batteries. Lithium is extracted from brine or seawater, which is rich

Industry March 24, 2022

The race to come out on top in the future mobility sector is reaching a fever pitch. Market estimates show there are at least 200 global carmakers, aircraft manufacturers, telecommunication firms and startups working on developing urban air mobility (UAM) or flying cars. And Korean companies are no exception. Hanwha Systems, the country’s major defense electronics and related smart technologies and infrastructure service provider, is seeking to pivot its airspace business to target the g

Industry March 23, 2022

After the Ministry of SMEs and Startups greenlighted the large automotive companies’ entry to the secondhand car market, carmakers here have been quick to announce their plans to launch secondhand services within the year.  Their entry could bring huge change to the used car market here, which has been protected by the government until recently for microenterprises. Lotte Rental, which operates a rent-a-car business, announced Friday that it would also enter the used car market in

Mobility March 20, 2022

South Korean IT giant Naver has become an open target on Thursday for selling fashion items suggestive of Japanese outfits that were popular when Korea was under colonial rule on its metaverse platform Zepeto. Fashion items evidently inspired by styles that were trending during the 1912-26 Taisho era were on sale from Tuesday, according to users. Naver seems to have not considered the cultural and political context of such fashion items for Koreans, some argued. The Taisho era was a time of rel

Industry March 17, 2022

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group opened its first Southeast Asian manufacturing plant in Indonesia on Wednesday, gearing up its drive to expand its presence in a region long dominated by Japanese rivals.  The plant, located in the Deltamas industrial complex 40 kilometers east of the capital city of Jakarta, has started mass production of Hyundai's flagship electric vehicle Ioniq 5, the first EV to be manufactured in the country, the carmaker said. It plans to invest 1.92 trillio

Mobility March 16, 2022

Stepping closer to a longtime dream of mankind, Volocopter, a Germany-based startup that develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, will start a commercial air taxi business in the next two years -- but overcoming regulatory hurdles and gaining public acceptance remains a challenge. “At this point, it is no longer a question of if electric air taxi services will come to cities around the world, but when,” said Hon Lung Chu, Head of Singapore and BD Southeast As

Mobility March 15, 2022

Hyundai Motor Group’s flagship electric vehicle model Ioniq 5 is now available for mobility subscription service from Hyundai Selection in metropolitan areas including Seoul. The Korean automaker said Sunday that Ioniq 5 will be offered as an option in the monthly program Regular pack. The model was only offered for the daily-subscription plan Special pack subscribers in Jeju and Busan.  Hyundai Motor said such service expansion will allow more customers to experience Ioniq 5, which

Mobility March 13, 2022