Aston Martin Seoul said Thursday that it would be unveiling its newest hypercar, Valhalla, through Sunday at Coex in southern Seoul.The Valhalla, scheduled to be released in 2021, will be limited to production of just 500 units around the world, and comes with the hefty price tag of about 2 billion won ($1.68 million) here.The Valhalla will be on display at a special exhibition hall in front of Megabox Coex. A video explaining the philosophy and technology of Aston Martin will be shown alongside

When Kia Motors said its latest compact sport utility vehicle Seltos would be a game-changer in the local SUV market, the company was met with doubts, as the automaker already has three other small SUVs -- the Stoniq, Soul and Niro. But upon the official launch of Seltos this month, and with a single test-drive of Seltos, feelings of doubt immediately changed to pleasant surprise. Driving Seltos on a 65-kilometer route from Wonju, Gangwon Province, to Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, it was c

An Indonesian Cabinet member has confirmed Hyundai Motor’s plan to build a new manufacturing factory with a $1 billion investment into the country, according to local media. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said he met the carmaker’s de facto leader Chung Euisun on Friday to discuss the investment plan and that the carmaker has secured a plot for construction on western Java Island, Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported Sunday. The planned factory wil

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Monday they have sold over 90 million vehicles in accumulated overseas sales.  As of the end of June, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 90,189,640 vehicles in global markets except for South Korea. The vehicles sold outside the country were shipped from the carmakers' domestic and overseas plants, according to the data.Helped by robust sales of their SUVs in the United States, the companies expect to sell over 100 million aut

Hyundai Motor Group plans to launch a research unit of its artificial intelligence division in the heart of Silicon Valley within this year, establishing its first overseas division entirely for AI development, the company said Thursday.The AIR Center will be the latest addition to Hyundai Motor’s AI projects. The carmaker launched the Artificial Intelligence Research Lab late last year and hired Kim Jeong-hee, a South Korean expert in deep learning and former leader of Naver Lab’s i

Plan of building plant in Indonesia not confirmed, says the company

The prosecution on Wednesday indicted former executives of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors on charges of delaying recall processes in Korea for 18 months, though they were allegedly aware of engine defects.According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, three former executives who were responsible of product quality between 2015 and 2017 were indicted on charges of violating the Motor Vehicle Management Act.The companies were aware of problems such as engine stalls, connecting ro

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, South Korea’s industrial equipment maker has agreed to provide key parts needed for construction of a small modular reactor in the United States, the company said Wednesday.Under a partnership with NuScale Power, the South Korean company will supply parts crucial for a nuclear steam supply system and other parts for the SMR. SMR is a new kind of light water reactor for a nuclear power plant.  The project is a part of a plan between NuScale a

Renault Samsung, the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault, has released an upgraded version of its premium sedan SM6 while keeping its price down, amid intensifying competition in the midsized sedan market, the company said Wednesday.The company has added the upper-end premium model SM6 Premiere and a liquefied petroleum gas version of the vehicle to cater to the diversifying needs of customers. Emphasizing the premium features of the sedan, the company said it has applied the Bose surro

 South Korea’s shipments of environment friendly vehicles jumped an average of 33 percent annually in the past seven years on growing overseas demand, an auto business lobby group said.Local carmakers exported 196,000 eco-friendly vehicles in 2018, up from 35,000 units in 2012. Eco-friendly cars accounted for 8 percent of the country’s overall vehicle exports last year, up from 1.1 percent six years earlier, according to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Operating profit surpasses W1tr for first time in 7 quarters

Automaker Renault Samsung said Monday it has partnered with telecom firm KT to provide Easy Link, a “vehicle infotainment” system utilizing voice assistant technology.Easy Link is a new in-vehicle system that provides a combination of information and entertainment to car users. It will be equipped on the upgraded QM6, the company’s most popular midsized sport utility vehicle model that was unveiled in June. According to Renault Samsung, with a simple call to Giga Genie, KT&rsqu

Hyundai’s latest SUV targets growing number of singles

Kia Motors began selling its new compact sports utility vehicle Seltos on Thursday, which the automaker called it a “game changer” in the global small SUV market which has doubled in size over the last five years. The Seltos, which was unveiled in India last month, can be characterized by its spacious interior with 498 liters of trunk space and a relatively long car body at 4,375 millimeters -- the longest in the small SUV category, according to Kia. &ld

South Korean exports of environment-friendly cars, such as hybrid and electric vehicles, soared over the seven years ending last year as global demand shifted away from combustion-engine cars, industry data showed Tuesday. The data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturer Association showed that from 2012 to 2018, the country’s automotive exports fell by an annual average of 4.2 percent, but exports of eco-friendly cars rose by an average of 33.1 percent per year.A total of 196,000 eco-