Volkswagen’s bestselling SUV comes with enhanced features

Move marks shift away from car carriers to creating hydrogen value chain

Hyundai Motor Group chief vows acceleration in transition to future mobility era

Audi Volkswagen Korea has appointed Sacha Askidjian as the new managing director of the Volkswagen brand in Korea, the company announced Thursday. He will replace Stephan Krapp starting from Oct. 1, who will move to the company’s headquarters in Germany to take charge of pricing strategies of Volkswagen cars in Europe. Joining the Audi Volkswagen Group in 2000, Askidjian built a 10-year career in customer service and marketing at the group’s French office. He moved on to the gr

South Korean carmakers' sales fell 4.5 percent last month from a year earlier as an extended global chip shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on vehicle production and sales, industry data showed Wednesday. The country's five carmakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a combined 544,992 vehicles in August, down from 570,601 units a year ago, according to data from the companies. Their domestic sales dec

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker, on Wednesday unveiled the mini SUV Casper in the latest move to diversify its product lineup. The Casper comes with a 1.0-liter multi-point injection engine or a 1.0-liter gasoline direction injection engine, the company said in a statement. Hyundai plans to launch the entry-level SUV in the domestic market within this month, a company spokesman said, without elaborating on prices or other details. (Yonhap)

Renault Group set up a joint venture with China’s Geely Automobile Holdings earlier this month and plans to unveil a Renault brand hybrid passenger car in China and have Renault Samsung Motors develop an eco-friendly vehicle. For the new eco-friendly car, Renault Group said it will share technologies with Lynk & Co, a Chinese-Swedish automobile brand owned by Geely. The research and development team of Renault Samsung is expected to work on an eco-friendly car tailored to Korean cust

Incheon International Airport is planning to start offering an unmanned currency exchange service beginning in February 2022. Dubbed the “unmanned currency exchange zone,” currency exchange machines will be installed in the airport’s Terminal 2 and will be in service 24 hours a day, officials at Incheon International Airport Corporation said on Monday. IIAC is currently in talks with major banks to introduce the service. Shinhan Bank is on board with the move, according to on

Kia’s first all-electric vehicle drives like very quiet sports car

Cash-strapped automaker‘s search for new owner casts question mark over business plan

Unionized workers at Kia, South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, voted Friday to accept the company's wage proposals without a strike for the first time in a decade. Kia said 68 percent of 26,945 workers voted in favor of wage offers that include an increase of 75,000 won ($64.30) in monthly basic pay, two months of wages in performance-based pay and cash bonuses worth 5.8 million won. More than 1,600 out of the 28,604-member union abstained. But Kia rejected the union's demand to extend the

Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation has revamped its scholarship program to foster 1,100 talents in the next five years, the foundation said Wednesday. Renamed Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Scholarship, the scholarships will support talented people in five different categories: global, future industry, international cooperation, social innovation, and art and culture. The foundation seeks to provide the recipients not only with financial support, but with education opportunities to groom t

Han Sung Motor has donated 20 million won ($17,028) earned from running Dream Gream online merch store and more to 10 youth shelters around the country, the official Mercedes-Benz dealer said Monday. The auto dealership opened the online store offering merchandise made by students participating in its Dream Gream art scholarship program in June. As part of its social outreach efforts, Han Sung Motor has been supporting middle and high school students with artistic talents through the progra

Unionized longshore workers at South Korea’s largest shipper, HMM, began voting Sunday on whether to go on strike after three rounds of wage negotiations failed. Should they vote in favor of the collection action, it will mark the first strike at the shipper since its establishment in 1796. The longshore workers’ union has around 450 members. Results are scheduled to come out Monday afternoon. The motion is likely to pass, according to local media reports, as the labor union an

American automaker General Motors said it will expand the recall of Chevy Bolt electric vehicles equipped with South Korean supplier LG's batteries over fire risks, which is expected to additionally cost about US$1 billion. The latest recall covers 73,000 Bolt EVs and EUVs from model years 2019 through 2022 sold in the United States and Canada to replace the defective battery modules. It is on top of about 69,000 Bolt EVs from 2017-2019 model years included in the previous recall in July over