Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia together became the world’s second-largest green carmaker in the first half of the year, taking the No. 2 spot three years earlier than they had planned. According to IHS Markit, Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 102,480 units of eco-friendly vehicles between January and June, a 126.1 percent increase from the same period last year and similar to their com...

Lee Yun-mo, president of Volvo Car Korea speaks at a press briefing held at Volvo Car Korea‘s new office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Wednesday evening. (Volvo Car Korea) Volvo Car Korea, local importer and distributor of the Swedish automaker, said it will invest 100 billion won ($88 million) to expand its dealership network and strengthen customer service in South Korea, a market it sees wit...

Kaher Kazem, chief executive officer of General Motor’s India was named new head of the US automaker’s South Korean operation, the company said Thursday. “We are pleased to have Kaher taking over GM’s key operations in Korea,” said GM Executive Vice President and President of GM International Stefan Jacoby. “As a car guy, Kaher has had a long and distinguished career in manufacturing, business...

The ratio of labor costs to overall revenue generated by three major automakers here was relatively higher than companies in other industries, data showed Wednesday. According to CEOScore, a local corporate tracker, labor costs at Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and SsangYong came to 13 percent of their sales last year, double the average of 5.9 percent at 334 companies studied. Hyundai`s second plan...

With the sentencing of Samsung’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong slated for next week, there have been growing speculations over whether the tech giant will change its previous strategy on consolidating his leadership. There is general consensus among Samsung insiders as well as chaebol reformists that the conglomerate will not give up on Lee and will try to put his succession back on track. But they...

Jumping into the market for B-segment crossovers in South Korea, Renault Samsung, the local unit of the French automaker, unveiled a revamped QM3 on Wednesday, highlighting the design heritage of the European country. Known as the Captur in Europe, the crossover utility vehicle was No. 1 in the segment in the market there three years in a row. But to make it appealing in Korea, where masculine G...

Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has exhibited a somewhat different image as a member of a chaebol family in the past years. The former Doosan Group chairman and the fifth son of the nation’s oldest conglomerate, posts his daily ride to work via subway train on Twitter, and is known as a man of humor who surprises his staff on April fool’s day. Through a TV...

A reorganization plan set to give higher-level government status to the Small and Medium Business Administration on Monday showed President Moon Jae-in’s drive to nurture smaller companies so they can produce more jobs and even break the market dominance of family-run conglomerates here. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the government said they had agreed to create a new ministry support...