SsangYong Motor, the South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra, reinstated on Monday 71 employees and hired 34 new workers as a follow up measure of the September agreement ending a decadelong conflict between labor and management.“The decision to reinstate the workers was made to deal with the production of the long-body version of Rexton Sport and succeeding model of Korando C named C300 alongside reduced work hours,” the company said in a statement.In late September, four parti

Eight new cars released in South Korea by local manufacturers this year secured governmental approval for their interior air quality, a report showed Monday.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said new vehicles produced and sold in the country were found to be safe from seven hazardous elements, including formaldehyde and toluene. (Yonhap)The cars that passed requirements are Hyundai Motor Co.'s G70, Santa Fe and Veloster; Kia Motors Corp.'s K3, K9 and Stonic; Renault Samsung's QM

Samsung Electronics Co. filed the largest number of patents related to self-driving cars in Europe, data showed Monday, far above traditional automobile manufacturers.According to the data compiled by the European Patent Office, the number of applications related to self-driving cars filed in Europe came to 3,998 in 2017, growing more than threefold from 922 tallied in 2011.  (Yonhap)Over the 2011-2017 period, Samsung Electronics held the most patents at 624, trailed by US IT giant Intel Corp. w

SsangYong Motor’s four-wheel-drive G4 Rexton is perfect for winter sports and travel, the company said Sunday, citing its electronic stability program and the body-on-frame structure designed to ensure safety even on slippery roads.Not only the premium SUV G4 Rexton, but all the SUVs in the carmaker’s lineup -- including the Tivoli and the Rexton Sports -- provide comfort and safety for winter travelers thanks to “4Tronic” technology, which powers all four wheels so that they move forward on icy

South Korea’s leading automaker Hyundai Motor will start global sales of its limited-edition Kona Iron Man, inspired by the Marvel character, next month, the company said Thursday.A total of 7,000 units of the special-edition model will go on sale in countries including the United States, China and those in Europe, with 1,700 allotted solely for Korea. This is the world’s first vehicle incorporating a Marvel character theme, under the company’s partnership with Marvel signed in 2015, Hyundai sai

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, which combined form the world’s fifth-biggest carmaker, swept awards at the Korea New Car Assessment Program 2018, with Hyundai’s Nexo hydrogen fuel cell vehicle taking home three awards, the companies said Wednesday.At Korea NCAP, managed by the Transport Ministry, the Nexo sport utility vehicle took first in three categories -- midsize SUV, environmentally friendly car and child protection -- and dispelled worries that the hydrogen tank positioned at the back of t

South Korea’s Transportation Ministry confirmed Monday the cause of BMW engine fires that sent jitters across the country this summer was the faulty exhaust gas recirculation cooler, and slapped an 11.2 billion won ($9.9 million) fine on the German carmaker for concealing and downplaying the defect. The investigation team consisting of government officials and auto professionals released the final result, including plans to file criminal charges against the German luxury automaker and for the ad

South Korea's domestic car market moved in two different directions this year with the rise in popularity of large sedans and sport utility vehicles standing in contrast to weaker demand for smaller vehicles, industry data showed Sunday.In the January-November period, Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. sold a combined 698,326 units, up 0.3 percent from 696,403 cars sold a year earlier, the data showed. (Yonhap)It said demand fo

GM Korea’s new research and development entity, dubbed GM Technical Center Korea, is expected to officially launch early next year, after its second-largest shareholder gave the green light despite strong opposition from its union, the company said Friday.The local unit of US auto giant General Motors said in an official notice that the “due date for the spinoff has been decided as Dec. 31 at a board meeting held on Dec. 18, and registration is slated for Jan. 2.”  (Yonhap)Roughly 3,000 workers

GM Korea, the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Friday that it plans to launch a separate R&D company early next year after completing the necessary procedures.Early this week, GM Korea held a shareholders meeting to approve the plan as the Korea Development Bank, the second-biggest shareholder in GM Korea, backed the carmaker's plan to spin off a research unit in a reversal of the state lender's opposition to the plan. (Yonhap)In a regulatory filing, GM Korea said the research unit,

Korea Aerospace Industries, the nation’s sole aircraft manufacturer, said Friday that it would accept the findings of an investigation identifying a defective part as the cause of a Marine Corps chopper crash in July.After a monthslong probe, a team of civilian, government and military experts said a defective rotor mast on the Marineon chopper had caused the crash that killed five military personnel. (Yonhap)The chopper crashed after the main rotor became detached from the airframe due to a cra

Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee proposed in July that taxi drivers adopt an IT system similar to that of Uber in order to streamline their operations, but received no response, she said in a radio interview on Friday.“If you look at Uber service abroad, it is built to make reservations and pay through an IT platform and the drivers get (paid) for various supplementary services,” she said. “I believe that the nation’s taxi service will be improved if such a system is adopted,” she said, adding th

A South Korean court on Thursday slapped a 2.8 billion won ($2.48 million) fine on Mercedes-Benz Korea for selling some 7,000 vehicles equipped with unauthorized parts in violation of Korea’s Clean Air Conservation Act and customs law.The Seoul Central District Court said a Benz employee surnamed Kim “has been arrested and sentenced to eight months in jail for failing to straighten out the matter for three years and a half on top of four penalties levied.” Kim was in charge of receiving approval

Steel giant Posco has hired former the CEO of Daelim Industrial to seek the company’s future growth, it said Thursday in a statement.  Oh Gyu-seokOh Gyu-seok, former president of the local builder, will take charge of the newly established future growth division assigned to pave the way for the 50-year-old steelmaker struggling to find alternatives amid declining market demand for metal. Oh is the first outsider to take the top-level executive position at Posco. Along with Oh, Posco named Park S

South Korea’s automakers will see lackluster sales in their three major overseas markets next year as well as at home due to slowing economies, trade disputes and rising lending rates, a research institute affiliated with Hyundai Motor Group said at a seminar Thursday. Hyundai Motor’s Global Business Intelligence Center predicted that vehicles sales in the US would be about 17 million next year, down 1.4 percent from an estimated 17.25 million this year. Sales in Europe would drop 0.2 percent to