Renault Samsung, the South Korean subsidiary of French carmaker Renault, has been targeting the niche markets of liquefied petroleum gas and commercial vehicles in recent months, to promote sales in the face of intensifying competition and a sluggish economy. QM6, a mid-sized sports utility vehicle powered by LPG, has boosted sales in the carmaker’s SUV segment by attracting customers looking for alternatives to diesel-powered SUVs here. Sales of SUVs with diesel engines have lost steam am

Kia Motors said Tuesday its new sport utility vehicle targeted for North American market was named SUV of the year by an auto publication MotorTrend. The magazine also chose Peter Schreyer, president and head of design management of Hyundai Motor Group as the “person of the year.” Kia is a sister company of Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest carmaker.  Describing Telluride as a new flagship SUV that has raised Kia’s profile, the magazine said seven of its 11 judges

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor ranked No. 1 on a list measuring carmakers’ corporate social responsibility activities in terms of the impact they had on the Chinese community, the company said Monday. According to an index published by the CSR Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Hyundai topped the list for the fourth consecutive year. It also climbed up one notch to fourth place in a separate ranking that listed companies across industries. The research institu

German luxury carmaker’s EV is dynamic and progressive but short in driving range

Choi Sun-mok, president and the head of the communications committee at Hanwha Group, was on Thursday named the public relations person of the year by an association of publicists in Korea. Choi was given the award for his work of implementing a series of events including a Hanwha symphony festival and the annual firework festival, the organization said, adding that such events have helped Hanwha raise its profile and expand communication channels with the public.The president also led the compa

Hyundai Motor said Thursday it will invest $410 million to start production of the Santa Cruz compact sport utility vehicle in the US in 2021. Facilities will be expanded at its plant in Montgomery, Alabama, along with the deployment of related equipment, with the aim of starting sales in the US and Canada in the same year, it added. The investment will create 200 new jobs at the plant and an additional 1,000 at local suppliers and logistics companies supporting Hyundai in Montgomery and the Riv

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State-run power supplier Korea Electric Power Corp said Monday that it has signed a deal to sell electricity to the Guam Power Authority Pacific for 25 years.Kepco will start providing electricity in October 2022 after building a power plant. Korean builder Hyundai Engineering is set to construct a 200-megawatt combined cycle power plant in the US island territory in August 2020. The commercial operation of the plant will start two years later. A special purpose company in which Kepco holds a 60

The first sport utility vehicle under the Genesis marque will use inverted sound waves for noise control, the first of its kind in the world, Hyundai Motor said Monday.The South Korean carmaker said in a statement that it has applied for a patent for Road-noise Active Noise Control, or RANC, both in the domestic market and the US. With RANC, the internal noise of a vehicle drops 3 decibels, half of what a passenger hears from a regular vehicle, it said. The technology, developed over six ye

The heir to Korea’s largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor, said on Thursday that the company’s future is in driving technology innovation for humanity, stressing its rationale behind works for future mobility. “Cities and mobility services were developed for humans from the very beginning,” said Chung Euisun, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group at the Mobility Innovators Forum 2019, held in San Francisco.“That’s why we are making a wide range of efforts t

Han Sung Motor, the largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in South Korea, has appointed Han Jong-moon, a former CEO of MFG Korea, as vice president of sales and marketing, the company said Wednesday.Han served as chief operating officer of Han Sung Motor prior to his CEO post at MFG, an operator of local restaurant chains. He has taken charge of the dealer’s sales and marketing since September.  With the appointment, Han Sung Motor expects to strengthen its business, citing Han’s previou

Han Sung Motor, the largest official dealer of Mercedes-Benz in South Korea, will support a public art project run by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture to create art installation works on streets of the capital city next month, the company said Thursday.Dream Gream scholarship recipients, Han Sung Motor employees and citizens will participate in the project titled “Sowon Bandi,” to create a collection of 5,000 solar-power light lamps, each of which holds a person’s wish

Hyundai Motor Co., Honda Motor Korea Co. and four other companies will recall more than 120,000 vehicles due to faulty components, the transport ministry said Sunday. This is the latest in a series of recall plans for local and overseas carmakers, and importers of foreign vehicles.  Hyundai Motor, Ford Motor Co., Porsche, BMW, Honda and Ducati are recalling 22 models amounting to 122,350 units, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The problems include a fa

GS Group said Thursday it will establish a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley in the first half of next year, as part of its plan to seek new growth engines.The decision was made during a two-day meeting of top executives held in Taipei, Taiwan, chaired by GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo. The list of executives who attended the meeting includes, GS Engineering and Construction Vice Chairman Huh Myung-soo, GS Home Shopping Vice Chairman Huh Tae-soo and GS Vice Chairman Jeong Taek-geun.