South Korea aims to become the world’s No. 1 green car provider and the first country to start commercial operations of autonomous driving in the next 10 years, the government said Tuesday. It will achieve the goal by promoting the convergence of industries, implementing policy support and injecting a combined 60 trillion won ($50 billion) from the private and public sectors. Highlighting the nation’s leadership in the areas of batteries, hydrogen, semiconductors and IT technology, P

Mobility Oct. 15, 2019

Storage for strollers, golf clubs and boxes of groceries, spacious backseats and high-end safety features are increasingly becoming important factors to customers in Korea seeking vehicles that fit their family-oriented lifestyles.Rather than choosing sedans with better driving performance, a growing number of customers -- particularly those in their 30s and 40s -- are looking for mid-sized sport utility vehicles in consideration of fuel economy, passenger convenience and ease of use.According t

Mobility Oct. 14, 2019

Dimitris Psillakis (left), CEO and president of Mercedes-Benz Korea, and Mark Raine, vice president of product and marketing, pose for photos at a session held for the media to test the new Mercedes-AMG GT four-door coupe and E53 4MATIC+ at the AMG Racing Track in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Introducing the family of high-performance AMG vehicles, Psillakis said, “No matter which AMG model you choose, you will get a high-performance vehicle, which excites with powerful performa

Mobility Oct. 14, 2019

A YouTube video that chronicles SK hynix’s technological challenges over the years to mass-produce the world’s first 128-layer triple-level cell 4D NAND chip has received over 12 million views in less than two weeks of its release, the company said in a statement Monday.The corporate promotion video titled “Cheongju Jikji,” narrates how the company’s challenging spirit resembles the passion and drive that drove the inventors of the world’s first metal movable

Technology Oct. 14, 2019

Hyundai Motor has hired a former chief executive officer of Audi’s US division as the head of its luxury segment Genesis’ operations in North America, signaling the carmaker’s drive to expand its market presence in the world’s second-largest auto market.Mark Del Rosso, who led operations of luxury brands Audi and Bentley for two decades, will take the CEO position of Genesis’ US operations. He will lead the sales and marketing strategy of the brand under the command

Mobility Oct. 13, 2019

South Korea ranked 13th in terms of global competitiveness this year, backed by its leadership in information technology and strength to counter external shocks, a report showed Wednesday.The country saw its competitiveness rising two notches from last year and by four from 2017, the Finance Ministry said, quoting the report from the World Economic Forum. Among 141 countries studied by the WEF, Korea ranked tops in macroeconomic stability and dissemination of information and communications techn

Market Oct. 9, 2019

 The number of commercial vehicles sold by Volvo Trucks Korea has surpassed the 25,000 mark, a first for a foreign auto brand here, the company said Tuesday.The local importer and distributor of the Swedish carmaker delivered its 25,000th vehicle to a customer on Monday at its central cargo center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. After delivering its first vehicle in South Korea in 1997, Volvo Trucks Korea went on to sell its 5,000th in 2007 and reached the 10,000 mark in 2012. Since then

Mobility Oct. 8, 2019

A group of South Korean reporters covering automobiles picked Mercedes-Benz’s latest sports utility vehicle, the New GLE, as the car of the month, they announced Tuesday.According to the Korea Automobile Journalists Association, the SUV from the German luxury carmaker earned 18.4 points of 25, taking the top spot for the monthly award. It competed against GM Korea’s Chevrolet Traverse and Kia Motors’ Mohave the Master.The association assesses finalists in five categories. The N

Mobility Oct. 8, 2019

South Korea’s auto industry, a key driver of the nation’s economic growth, is likely to go through throes of change as carmakers’ restructuring plans are gaining market support.An advisory group consisting of five independent industrial experts said Sunday in a report presented to the management and the labor union of Hyundai Motor that it would be inevitable for the largest carmaker here to reduce its manufacturing workforce by 20-40 percent by 2025. Stressing several changes

Mobility Oct. 7, 2019

President Moon Jae-in said Friday that he would seek to turn the Kaesong industrial complex into a factory zone for foreign corporations, if the manufacturing village in North Korea’s border city resumes operation.Moon was speaking at a luncheon with business representatives in South Korea. The remarks came a week after he, in an address delivered at the United Nations, urged support from the international community for designating areas linking the truce village of Panmunjeom and Kaesong

Industry Oct. 4, 2019

Corporate social responsibility programs have now become an important barometer of a firm’s sustainability, beyond simply making profits. For Han Sung Motor, the largest official dealer of Mercedes-Benz in South Korea, CSR projects have been a crucial part of its business strategy nearly for a decade. And what keeps the company going in its commitment toward the society is the changes it has brought so far, such as watching teenagers from underprivileged families grow their confidence and

Mobility Oct. 2, 2019

CODE42, a local startup that is developing an autonomous transportation-as-a-service platform, said Tuesday it has raised 30 billion won ($25 million) in pre-Series A funding from major firms including Kia Motors and conglomerates SK, LG and CJ.This follows the 2 billion won in seed funding it received from Hyundai Motor in March.In one of the most successful pre-Series A funding round here, Kia invested the largest portion of 15 billion won, the company added. The 30 billion won will be used to

Mobility Oct. 1, 2019

Audi Volkswagen Korea said Thursday it has opened a media art exhibition in Seoul to present the future of green mobility.Titled “The Next Chapter,” the exhibition displays joint projects by artists at home and abroad visualize safe and sustainable mobility and its role of changing the life of future generation. The two-week event is taking place at JCC Art Center in Jongro, central Seoul. It is a cultural platform for the company’s Tomoroad initiative, a joint project with Kor

Mobility Sept. 26, 2019

LS Group Chairman Christopher Koo has called for strengthening the group’s competitiveness in technological innovation, stressing that it is key to overcoming trade disputes between South Korea and Japan.  Speaking at T-Fair, an in-house event held to encourage innovative engineers, Koo said the group needs to develop high value-added products and services to widen the gap with followers. He added that research and development projects should support such a move and generate growth en

Mobility Sept. 24, 2019

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group will start mass production of self-driving cars within the next five years, said Chung Euisun, the heir to the auto giant, as he made a hefty investment in a joint venture the company established with Aptiv on Monday (local time).At a luncheon session held in New York with Korean correspondents on the same day he signed the $4 billion deal with the US software developer, Chung said the company would apply the autonomous driving technology to be developed

Mobility Sept. 24, 2019