Hyundai Motor's flagship minivan Staria has returned with a hybrid engine powertrain and more comfort and safety options, paving the way for the future of multi-purpose vehicles. The Korea Herald had an opportunity to ride in the back of the Staria lounge hybrid model and got behind the wheel in a test drive in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. The back of the seven-seater minivan gave a feeling of being treated from the beginning as a chauffeur opened the door with a touch of a button.

Mobility March 22, 2024

Hyundai Motor Group said Friday that it had joined hands with the Korean government’s preparatory committee to provide official transportation at the first Korea-Africa summit in June. Under the partnership, the automaker’s luxury brand Genesis will offer a total of 119 vehicles -- 77 units of the G90 flagship sedan and 42 units of the G80 luxury mid-sized sedan during the Korea-Africa summit slated to be held between June 4 and 5 in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The Genesis G90 has b

Mobility March 22, 2024

Mercedes-Benz was dethroned by BMW as the top auto importer in South Korea last year for the first time since 2015. Despite the quantitative loss, Mercedes-Benz Korea CEO Mathias Vaitl says the focus is to offer a great brand experience for the customers. “Our strategy is not to be No. 1 here in the market,” said Vaitl in an interview with reporters from the Korea Automobile Journalists Association at the Korean office of Mercedes-Benz in Seoul on Wednesday. “We are the stronge

Mobility March 21, 2024

Hyundai Motor Group has been winning dozens of awards with its diverse lineup of electric vehicles across the globe and is looking to continue adding more to its trophy collection. According to the South Korean auto conglomerate on Tuesday, the EVs of its three brands -- Hyundai Motor Company, Kia and Genesis -- have won 48 awards in 13 countries over the past six months. Of the awards, 41 came from North America and Europe. The Kia EV9, a large electric sports utility vehicle, led the pack, as

Mobility March 19, 2024

Renault Korea Motors on Monday announced a plan to invest 118 billion won ($88.5 million) in upgrading equipment at its Busan manufacturing plant over the next three years, signifying the French automaker’s efforts to produce hybrid and electric vehicles. Renault Korea Motors CEO Stephane Deblaise and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon signed a memorandum of understanding at the Busan city hall earlier in the day. Renault said it plans to hire 200 new personnel at the Busan plant with the fresh i

Mobility March 18, 2024

The number of eco-friendly vehicles sold by Hyundai Motor Company and Kia across the globe has surpassed five million, achieving the milestone after 15 years. According to the South Korean automakers on Sunday, the accumulated sales of their eco-friendly vehicles stood at 4,995,891 units as of last year. The carmakers logged 111,841 eco-friendly vehicles sold in January this year, bringing up the total to over 5.1 million. The eco-friendly vehicles include hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybri

Mobility March 17, 2024

South Korea on Thursday began the official recruitment process for its new space body, Korea Aerospace Administration, or KASA, hoping to attract the best talent from in and outside the country. The government’s preparatory office for KASA held its first offline recruitment presentation in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, where the KASA headquarters will be launched on May 27. As Korea has repeatedly underlined its interest in drawing in top-tier space professionals regardless of nation

Industry March 14, 2024

Major global offices of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia turned into the black last year as the South Korean automakers logged record-high earnings on surging sales across the world, according to their audit and business reports on Wednesday. According to the audit report of Hyundai Motor Company, the automaker’s manufacturing plant in Alabama posted 236.3 billion won ($180 million) in net income in 2023, a drastic turnaround from the net loss of 808 billion in 2022. Named Hyundai Motor Manuf

Mobility March 13, 2024

The feud over South Korean game developer Nexon's Maplestory, a popular side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, is escalating, with gamers filing a class action suit and Nexon taking the antitrust regulator’s fine assessment to court. As the in-court battle is expected to take a long time to reach any sort of conclusion, gamers are hoping that the case can help spread awareness for protecting their rights, while Nexon looks to vindicate itself. Regard

Industry March 12, 2024

The state of Indiana has risen as one of the hottest investment destinations in the US for South Korean companies as of late, with Samsung SDI leading the pack by committing billions of dollars for joint battery plants there. Indiana is now hoping to expand the scope of collaboration with Korean players in the sectors of semiconductors and artificial intelligence. “There’s a lot of alignment when we talk about semiconductors. Purdue University was one of the first universities to hav

Industry March 11, 2024

HD Hyundai has teamed up with Naver to accelerate its digital transformation, the South Korean shipbuilding giant said Monday. According to the announcement, representatives from the South Korean shipbuilding conglomerate and the country’s information technology giant signed a memorandum of understanding to bolster the former’s cloud transformation and artificial intelligence business at the latter’s second data center, known as Gak Sejong, in the the city of Sejong. Under the

Technology March 11, 2024

진행자: 간형우, Ali Abbot Fake news on soccer star generated W700m: report 기사 요약: 축구선수 이강인 관련 가짜 뉴스 영상이 유튜브에서 7천만 조회수를 기록하며 7억원 정도의 수익 발생됐다는 인공지능 기업의 보고서 [1] YouTube videos carrying fake news about controversy-ridden soccer star Lee Kang-in are thought to have generated up to 700 million won ($523,000) in profit in the two weeks after his alleged altercation with Son Heung-min became public, a report by an advertising consulting firm claimed Sunday. *-ridden: ~에 시달리는 *alleged: 추정된, 제기된 *altercation:

Podcast March 11, 2024

Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s third-largest carmaker, is getting closer to testing the production of electric vehicles equipped with solid-state batteries in collaboration with Factorial Energy, a US-based solid-state battery developer. Factorial Energy announced in October last year that it delivered the first A-samples of its 100+ amp-hours Factorial Electrolyte System Technology solid-state battery cells to one of its auto partners without disclosing the name of the original equipmen

Mobility March 10, 2024

Hyundai Motor has begun a trade-in service for customers looking to buy new electric vehicles by offering incentives to encourage domestic EV sales, the South Korean automaker announced Thursday. The trade-in benefits, which became effective on March 1, apply to those who sell their cars to Hyundai Motor’s certified used vehicles service and buy the automaker's EVs: the Ioniq 5 and 6 as well as the Kona Electric. According to the company, customers who sell their used EVs made by Hyun

Mobility March 7, 2024

진행자: 간형우, Ali Abbot Marriages in Korea fall by 40% within a decade 기사 요약: 2013년 32만 이었던 혼인 건수가 작년 19만으로 10년새 40% 감소 [1] In another piece of grim news underscoring South Korea's looming demographic crisis, the number of marriages in 2023 fell by 40 percent compared to the level recorded a decade ago, government statistics revealed Sunday. *grim: 암울한, 음침한 *underscore: 강조하다 *looming: (주로 무섭거나 위협적이게) 다가오는, 보이기 시작하는 *demographic: 인구통계학 [2] According to Statistics Korea, an estimated 193,673 co

Podcast March 7, 2024