Hyundai Motor Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun has been named co-chair of the Hydrogen Council, a global alliance of hydrogen technologies launched to promote the energy transition from fossil fuels, the organization said Thursday.Chung replaces Yang Woong-chul, a former vice chairman of Hyundai Motor who left the carmaker late last year, and joins incumbent Co-chair Benoit Potier, chairman and CEO of Air Liquide, to lead the council for the next two years. (Yonhap)The Hydrogen Council said

Hyundai Motor has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s Thanh Cong Group to set up a joint sales venture as part of efforts to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country, the company said Thursday.Under the agreement, the companies will work together to expand sales and after-service networks to cater to growing demand in the country’s auto market. Vietnam’s auto market grew 27 percent last year. (Hyundai Motor)Established in 1999, Thanh Cong Group is a Vietnamese conglomer

EV version to launch next month; carmaker aims to sell 20,000 units in Korea, 100,000 overseas

A 25 percent tariff slapped on imported vehicles and auto parts by the United States could have a serious impact on South Korean and U.S. carmakers in the long term, a local think tank said Wednesday. If the US invokes Section 232 tariffs on vehicles and components imported from the European Union and other trading partners, it could have far-reaching consequences for the auto industry around the world, the Korea Economic Research Institute said in its recent report.  (Yonhap)"If the country doe

South Korea's international trade organization said Wednesday it held a meeting with the industry ministry to share ideas on supporting the local automobile industry amid growing protectionism around the globe.The Korea International Trade Association said it held this year's first round of regular forum talks with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, centering on the car industry.  (Yonhap)While KITA and the ministry have held regular trade discussions once a year, the two decided to co

McDonald’s in Korea will replace all of its motorbikes used for its delivery service with electric scooters by 2021, the Korean branch of the fast food chain said Tuesday.“In the next three years, we are going to replace around 1,400 vehicles (operated by) restaurants under direct management with electric bikes,” it said in a statement. Electric bikes are lined up at a McDonald's chain in Jeju. (McDonald's Korea)The fast food giant has placed around 40 electric bikes late last year for its opera

South Korean auto parts-maker Hyundai Mobis has secured $1.7 billion worth of overseas orders from foreign carmakers last year, marking a record on-year increase of 40 percent, the company said Tuesday.Overseas sales of core auto components by the company have also shown rapid growth, having shot up from $500 million in 2015 to $1.2 billion in 2017. (Hyundai Mobis)The company has secured around 60 percent of its overseas orders -- worth $1 billion -- from electric vehicle manufacturers from Chin

Kia Motors Corp. said Monday that early this month its total sales in Britain exceeded one million vehicles since it started exporting to the country 28 years ago. On Jan. 10, Kia's vehicle sales in the country hit the milestone after reporting 998,069 units at the end of December, the company said in a statement. (Yonhap)Kia entered the market with the Pride compact in 1991. It later launched models, such as the Sportage compact SUV, the Ceed hatchback, and the Morning mini car, it said. For al

GM’s new Camaro SS is a rough diamond to Mercedes-Benz’s refined CLS 400 d 4Matic

South Korea will spend 7.3 billion won ($6.51 million) this year to develop innovative technologies for aerial, marine and ground-based unmanned vehicles, the government said Sunday.　The Ministry of Science and ICT said it has finalized the scale of various projects to secure core technologies that can allow autonomous vehicles to operate in the air, on land and at sea.  Google`s self-driving vehicle (Google)　“(The government) will make efforts to overcome the limits of commercialization of unma

South Korea's automobile exports shot up 22.6 percent on-year in December on the back of the release of new models from local carmakers, government data showed Friday.According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, automakers here shipped 219,313 cars overseas last month, rising sharply from a year earlier, with the value estimated at $3.78 billion. (Yonhap)For the whole of 2018, the number of cars shipped abroad edged down 3.2 percent to 2.44 million units, or $40.9 billion due to the

South Korean battery makers are lagging behind their rivals in China and Japan in electric vehicle battery competitiveness, a local think tank said Thursday. Korean car battery companies, such as LG Chem Ltd. and Samsung SDI Co., have witnessed their combined share in the global battery market plunge to 11 percent in 2018 from 30 percent in 2014, due mainly to a lack of captive buyers, the Korea Economic Research Institute said in a statement.  (Yonhap)"Unlike their Korean rivals, Chinese power

Mercedes-Benz Korea, the Korean unit of the German carmaker, said Thursday that it would push future mobility this year and roll out the new EQC crossover, its first fully electric sport utility vehicle.Declaring 2019 as the “year of EQ,” the company said it would launch four new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in addition to the new fully electric SUV, as well as nine new models and six facelifted ones to strengthen its product lineup.The exact local launch date remains undecided, the company

President Moon stresses government’s determination to make transition to a hydrogen economy

Hyundai Mobis, the car parts making arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Thursday that it has partnered with telecommunication company KT to jointly develop connected car technologies. The companies have launched fifth-generation network service at Hyundai Mobis’ test ground in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, in an effort to ramp up the drive for connected car research and development.A connected car refers to a car equipped with internet access, usually a wireless local area network. This allow