Car-sharing services in South Korea on Thursday intensified their marketing efforts while taxi drivers held a massive rally in protest of the planned launch of commercial carpool services.Kakao Mobility offered 10,000 points to carpool drivers who joined its trial service, in addition to 5,000 won ($4.50) worth of points per service, in an effort to encourage them to continue operating despite fierce opposition from taxi driversAnother ride-sharing service, SoCar, offered an 87 percent discount

Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-biggest carmaker by sales, said Thursday it is bracing for weak sales in three major markets next year due to the slowing global economy, trade disputes and rising lending rates.In a seminar held at the carmaker's headquarters in southern Seoul, the Global Business Intelligence Center, a think tank under the South Korean carmaker, forecast global vehicle sales will fall 0.1 percent to 92.49 million units in 2019 from an estimated 92.44 million units this ye

Hyundai Capital said Wednesday it has officially launched its car sharing platform Delivery Car on Dec. 7 after running a beta service since September last year.The platform allows customers to have vehicles delivered at a time and place of their choice and to return the car at any location of their choice. The company has partnered with some 200 small and midsized rental car companies nationwide for the service. (Hyundai Capital Newsroom)Since running the beta service, the company has made sign

Hyundai Motor’s compact SUV Kona was named the car of the year by a Spanish national daily newspaper, beating Peugeot’s 508 and Honda CR-V, the company said Wednesday.According to ABC, the newspaper based in Madrid, Kona topped the list with 312 points, followed by Peugeot 508 and SEAT Arona, with 264 and 182 points, respectively.Also by a UK-based auto magazine Next Green Car.com, the electric version of Kona was named the car of the year and the family car of the year, citing its reasonable pr

The head of the financial regulator on Wednesday dismissed concerns about a controversial spin-off plan by the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., saying that the move is not a prerequisite for GM to shut down its manufacturing facilities here. Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made the remarks a day after the state-run Korea Development Bank, the second-largest shareholder of GM Korea Co., decided to support the carmaker's plan to spin off its research unit.  (Yo

GM Korea was given the green light Tuesday by the Korea Development Bank to proceed with the controversial setup of an independent research and development entity here, ending a monthslong tug-of-war since GM shut down a factory here this February as part of global restructuring. In return, GM Korea reaffirmed its long-term commitment, which centers on its plan to make Korea General Motors’ production base for all-new sub-compact SUVs and all-new crossover utility vehicles. GM Korea’s unionized

Hyundai Glovis has sold a record-breaking 1 million second-hand vehicles via auctions as of the end of November, according to the company on Tuesday.The logistics unit of Hyundai Motor Group has auctioned 1,000,382 used cars since it first started its automobile auction service in 2001. Members participate in an auction where the 1 millionth used car was put up for sale at Hyundai Glovis’ Sihwa auction house on Nov. 30 (Hyundai Glovis)In the past six years, the company has seen an average 4.8 pe

South Korea will provide financial assistance for cash-strapped auto parts makers to help them tide over the liquidity squeeze amid auto industry slump, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced plans to provide 3.5 trillion ($3.1 billion) worth of funding and loan guarantee for local auto parts makers, which have been grappling with shrinking sales at home and abroad. (Yonhap)South Korea's auto industry is going through a hard time after GM Korea shut down

Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest automotive group, is slated to begin construction of its new headquarters, dubbed the Global Business Center, in southern Seoul in the first half of next year, with the government moving to clear regulatory hurdles for the project that had hit a snag for years.The development comes as part of government plans shared at the economy-related ministers’ meeting, led by President Moon Jae-in on Monday, on fostering economic growth in 2019 by encouraging

It’s practically a taboo for a car company, particularly South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor, to hire a celebrity as the face of a new vehicle. It’s supposed to be all about the car, not the star. Breaking this unspoken rule, Hyundai Motor brought a global sensation -- Korean boy band BTS -- into its all-out efforts to promote the large SUV it launched last month, seeking a rebound for its global sales. But the Palisade is a car with a target market that goes beyond BTS’ young fan base, extendin

Hyundai Motor’s market share in the US sport utility vehicle segment rose to a record high of 3.7 percent as of November, industry sources said Sunday. That marks the South Korean auto giant’s strongest showing since it entered the market in 2000. Hyundai sold 271,377 SUVs between January and November, a 14.1 percent increase from the same period last year.The company’s SUV market share had headed downward in recent years after peaking at 3.6 percent in 2009. The figure hit bottom in 2015 with 2

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker by sales, said Sunday legendary rally driver Sebastien Loeb will contest six rounds of the 2019 World Rally Championship. Nine-time WRC champion Loeb will start the two-year contract with Hyundai by attending the Monte-Carlo Rally with the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC in Monaco next month, Hyundai Motor said in a statement. Sebastien Loeb (Reuters)Hyundai Motor's World Rally team is now composed of rally drivers Thierry Neuville, Andreas Mikkelsen, Dani

Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it will put greater focus on reviving sales in the United States and China next year by giving more leeway to the carmaker's regional business headquarters.The move comes amid deteriorating business environments such as the ongoing US-China trade dispute, planned rate hikes in the US and rapidly changing customer appetites for vehicles.The South Korean automaker plans to launch new sport utility vehicle models in the two important automobile markets in 2019 to dri

A South Korean court on Friday ruled against a request of Volkswagen and its affiliate Audi that a hefty fine, imposed on the local unit of the German automakers two years ago for false advertisements on its fabricated emissions results, be canceled.The Seoul High Court ruled that there was no problem with the Fair Trade Commission's imposition of a record 37.3 billion won ($33 million) fine in 2016 on Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local unit of the German carmakers, for producing false advertiseme

GM Korea, the local unit of the US automaker, said Thursday that the state-run Korea Development Bank has completed recapitalization of $375 million as part of the rescue plan signed in late April, raising prospects of the automaker and its second-largest shareholder narrowing their differences on GM’s spinoff plan.This is the latest development amid ongoing talks between related parties after a Seoul court approved an injunction against the process related to GM Korea’s spinoff of GM Technical