The Korea Herald

Hyundai Motor’s vice chairman urges quality improvement in U.S.

Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun urged workers at the automotive conglomerate’s production facility in Georgia to redouble their efforts to improve quality, company sources said Wednesday.Chung, the son and heir-apparent of Hyundai Motor Co. chairman Chung Mong-koo, flew to the U.S. to tour the Montgomery, Georgia plant and production facilities of parts suppliers, a visit that followed sales reports showing the U.S. market share of the company, the automotive group’s flagship bra

Feb. 20, 2014

Hyundai Motor’s vice chairman urges quality improvement in U.S.

Controversial court ruling fans Ssangyong concerns

Ssangyong Motor on Tuesday pledged to appeal a recent court ruling that ordered the carmaker to reinstate workers who had been dismissed in accordance with legitimate laws and regulations. The company said the main reason for its decision was its concern that the ruling may hurt its sales, which were just starting to pick up, and dampen employees’ morale. On Feb. 7, the Seoul High Court ordered the carmaker to reinstate 153 of the workers who were laid off in 2009 as part of restructuring plans

Feb. 18, 2014

Controversial court ruling fans Ssangyong concerns

Toyota may be fined for violating safety requirements

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to be fined for violating a safety requirement and recall of cars of its leading popular models, a government official said Monday.According to Yoon Jin-hwan, the head of the transport ministry’s motor vehicles management division, the Japanese automaker has agreed to recall 5,232 vehicles of six models starting on March 27 for substandard materials surrounding seat heaters that can catch fire. “The automaker will also be fined as it failed to meet

Feb. 17, 2014

Hyundai Motor vice chairman to visit U.S. this week

Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun is expected to visit the automotive conglomerate’s production facility and main sales office in the United States this week.The visit comes as sales of Hyundai Motor Co., the group’s flagship brand, fell behind the pace of the rebound in the U.S. car market last year, hurting its overall market share.Chung will travel to the Montgomery, Georgia plant and Hyundai Motor America headquarters in California. The visit is viewed as a move by the group to

Feb. 17, 2014

Hyundai Motor vice chairman to visit U.S. this week

Infiniti Q50 redefines luxury

The Japanese luxury car brand Infiniti is signaling a new direction of its technology, design and performance philosophy with the recent local launch of the refashioned sports sedan Q50. “The Infiniti brand has become a leader in modern luxury and high-performance cars,” Infiniti Korea CEO Takehiko Kikuchi said at a launching event in Seoul last week. “With the Q50, we want to redefine luxury.”The Q50, a replacement for the Infiniti G37 sedan, is the first Infiniti model after the carmaker annou

Feb. 16, 2014

Sewage-derived fuel powers Hyundai’s California green dream

Jack Brouwer isn’t bothered by the bouquet of biosolids.Brouwer, a scientist at the University of California at Irvine, pioneered a method for deriving pure hydrogen from human waste, food scraps and other matter flushed from homes. While the aroma surrounding his prototype project at the Orange County Sanitation District’s Fountain Valley waste facility isn’t for everyone, for Brouwer it bears the whiff of promise. “It smells like money,” he said. That’s because the hydrogen made by Brouwer’s s

Feb. 16, 2014

Sewage-derived fuel powers Hyundai’s California green dream

Hyundai Mobis opens proving ground in China

Hyundai Mobis, Korea’s leading auto parts maker affiliated with Hyundai Motor, last Tuesday finished constructing its winter proving ground in northeastern China.The company said that the test site is some 125 kilometers from Heihe municipality in Heilongjiang province, one of the world’s most suitable locations for cold weather automotive testing along with Arjeplog in Sweden and Wanaka in New Zealand.The average temperature lingers at minus 20 degrees Celsius and can fall as low as 42 degrees

Feb. 16, 2014

Navistar to heat up Korea’s truck market

Navistar International released its signature ProStar commercial trucks in Korea on Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. truck maker to enter the market since the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement went into effect in March 2012. The International ProStar is a 6-by-4 with 475 horsepower and 235 kilograms per meter of torque. Aerodynamics contribute to 50 percent of overall fuel economy, which makes it critical for a vehicle to be designed to minimize drag, Navistar said, adding that the vehicle’s aer

Feb. 16, 2014

Navistar to heat up Korea’s truck market

BMW i3 electric car to debut in April

BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon said Thursday that the German carmaker’s first full electric model, the i3, will hit the Korean market in April, putting its sales forecast at 250 units this year. “Due to the global supply constraint, we have secured only 250 i3 cars this year. The figure will make up 25 percent of the total electric car sales this year in Korea,” he said at a press conference held at Hyatt Regency Incheon. “Electric cars are perfect for commuting within megacities like Seoul,” he sai

Feb. 13, 2014

Hyundai car sales in India dip 2.6% in January

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest carmaker, said Wednesday its sales in India contracted 2.6 percent on-year in January, mainly due to sluggish overall demand on the subcontinent.The company, the flagship of Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest automotive conglomerate, said sales hit 33,405 units in the first month of the year, down from 34,302 units a year earlier.India is the world’s third-largest single car market, and an important production and export base for the carmaker

Feb. 12, 2014

[Photo News] Infiniti Q50

Feb. 11, 2014

[Photo News] The 1-liter car

Feb. 10, 2014

Bosch seeks bigger role in Hyundai’s diesel strategy

Hyundai Motor may have failed to gain an early edge in the nation’s diesel car market currently dominated by German luxury brands, but it has great potential for reversing the trend, said Markus Heyn, president of Bosch’s diesel systems division. “Hyundai is now capable of delivering attractive diesel vehicles into the market. And Bosch is here to support the efforts,” he told The Korea Herald on Friday at the Korean headquarters in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Touted for their torque and fuel ec

Feb. 9, 2014

Bosch seeks bigger role in Hyundai’s diesel strategy

[Photo News] Soul EV

Feb. 9, 2014

Lexus named most affordable luxury car

Toyota’s premium sedan brand Lexus was named the most reasonably priced luxury marque by Kelley Blue Book for the second consecutive year.Topping the “2014 5-year Cost to Own” category alongside Mazda, Lexus models had the overall lowest-projected price tag for the first five years of ownership, the car shopping data service said. In the Kelley Blue Book awards, Lexus LS and RX topped the High-End Luxury and SUV/Crossover categories, respectively. According to KBB, Lexus offsets the purchase pri

Feb. 9, 2014

Peugeot presses on with tie-up

The board of embattled French carmaker Peugeot reiterated Thursday that it was pressing on with a tie-up with China’s Dong Feng and the French state despite a split on the issue within the Peugeot family.Reports had emerged that chairman Thierry Peugeot and smaller shareholders were against the restructuring that would bring Peugeot an urgently needed 3 billion euro ($4.0 billion) cash injection.If completed, the plan would give Dong Feng, the French state and the Peugeot family each a 14 percen

Feb. 9, 2014

Honda touts progress in F1 comeback

Japanese automaker Honda said Friday it is making “steady progress” toward its return to Formula One racing in 2015.Honda said last year it would rejoin the European-dominated sport as an engine supplier to British team McLaren in a bid to revive their championship-winning partnership.“The company is making steady progress in developing the power unit,” Honda said in a statement outlining its motorsports strategy for 2014.The company is establishing its European base for F1 activity in Milton Ke

Feb. 9, 2014

Carmakers hope for better days at India Auto Show

Global car manufacturers jostled for attention at the opening of the Indian Auto Expo on Wednesday, attempting to revive buyers’ interest in a local market that is contracting for the first time in a decade.The giant show on the outskirts of the capital will be used to launch 69 new vehicles for the Indian market, which local and foreign carmakers still see as a future growth centre despite its present-day woes. “The first month of 2014 did not witness any improvement in the overall industry per

Feb. 9, 2014

Ford says car exports from U.S. up 50% since 2009

Ford Motor said strong trade partnerships are needed to maintain the company’s U.S. exports that have grown 50 percent since 2009, when auto-industry sales reached a 27-year low.Ford, the second-biggest U.S. automaker, is the nation’s largest exporter of vehicles, Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas, said at the Chicago Auto Show.While Ford shipped more than 370,000 vehicles out of the U.S. last year, and more than 30,000 Edge and Explorer sport-utility vehicles produced in North Amer

Feb. 9, 2014

Ssangyong Motor debuts LIV-1 concept SUV

Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea’s fourth-largest carmaker, said Thursday it unveiled its LIV-1 concept sport utility vehicle for the first time outside its home turf at the 12th Delhi Auto Show underway in the Indian capital.The car, dubbed LIV-1 for Limitless Interface Vehicle, outlines the new “Nature-born 3Motion” design language of the company that has made considerable strides to capture greater market share and meet customer satisfaction in recent years.In 2013, Ssangyong’s sales surged 2

Feb. 6, 2014

Ssangyong Motor debuts LIV-1 concept SUV