Hyundai Rotem, a tank and train-making affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, won a 62.1 billion won ($57.7 million) order to supply a total of 24 cars for driverless trains to the Richmond Airport Vancouver Line, the company said Monday.The cars produced at Hyundai Rotem’s factory in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, will be shipped to Canada by 2020. The driverless trains will cover a distance of 18.5 kilometers, connecting Vancouver International Airport and the city. They will transport up to

The state-run Korea Development Bank will begin its due diligence on GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., later this week after the US carmaker demanded financial support from its second-largest stakeholder, government officials said Sunday. Last week, GM and the Seoul government began talks to discuss ways to turn its loss-making unit, GM Korea, around after the US.carmaker announced its plan to shut one of its four car assembly plants in the country by May. GM also said i

General Motors on Friday postponed the due date for the 700 billion won ($650 million) it had loaned to the South Korean unit and withdrew its demand for the Bupyeong factory to be designated as security, the company said. During GM Korea’s board meeting held at its plant in Bupyeong, Incheon, GM deferred the maturity date until the inspection into the firm’s financial status ends, the company said. The payment was initially due this month. All eyes were also set on whether GM would continue to

Jaguar Land Rover Korea said Friday it will aim to sell 20 percent more vehicles this year than it did in 2017, amounting to some 18,000 units.“Last year, Jaguar Land Rover Korea sold over 10,000 units for two years in a row. We have a slew of models, including electric vehicles, in line to be introduced to Korean drivers this year. We will also extend the number of service centers to become a customer-centered brand,” said Baek Jung-hyun, the managing director of Jaguar Land Rover Korea during

Engle denies GM Korea was selling CKD at lower prices

GUNSAN, North Jeolla Province -- Jeon Byung-sun, 53, recalls six years ago when GM’s Gunsan factory was running 24 hours a day.“The factory boomed 5-6 years ago when we produced 1,200 units of Lacetti and Rezzo combined. The factory ran 24 hours. Back then Gunsan was a cash cow for GM,” said Jeon, a worker at GM’s Gunsan plant. Despite the proud memories he has, Jeon couldn’t believe it when he first heard from his colleagues last week that the US carmaker will shut down the plant, saying that t

Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday that it aims to sell 90,000 units of its all-new Santa Fe sport utility vehicle (SUV) in the domestic market this year by capitalizing on rising demand for recreational vehicles.The target was announced by the carmaker at the official launch event for the vehicle and comes as the South Korean carmaker needs the new SUV to bolster sales not only at home but in key overseas markets like the United States.Hyundai didn‘t provide its target sales figure for global mar

Watchers say subsidies won‘t help based on GM’s pattern of withdrawing from other countries

South Korean textiles giant Hyosung will construct a spandex factory in India by 2019 as part of its global expansion strategy, the company said Tuesday. The latest agreement was made last week when Cho Hyun-joon, Hyosung chairman and CEO, met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai, India, following a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Vietnam earlier this month.“India is one of the world’s largest textile markets, and we expect the consumer market size to gro

General Motors’ decision to shut down its assembly plant in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, last week has fanned questions regarding the fate of the remaining two factories in the Bupyeong district of Incheon and Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. Barry Engle, president of GM International, urged GM Korea and stakeholders to show progress in ongoing discussions by the end of February, “as we are at a critical juncture of needing to make product allocation decisions.”“GM’s new model assignment w

Tension is escalating over the South Korean government’s inspection into GM Korea, following the automaker’s decision to shut down a factory here last week. State-run Korea Development Bank, the second-biggest stockholder of the local unit with 17.02 percent shares, is currently looking into GM Korea’s management, including high-interest loans levied by the US headquarters. The country‘s financial watchdog Financial Supervisory Service is examining GM Korea’s research and development expenses, w

Kia Motors, the sister company of Hyundai Motor, released its fully changed sedan K3 on Tuesday, highlighting its increased fuel efficiency.The first fully change model in six years has a 1.6-liter gasoline engine and a fuel economy of 15.2 kilometers per liter, a 10 percent increase from its previous model. Kia Motors’ Pierre Leclercq, head of Styling, gives a presentation on the All New K3 at Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. The K3, the first full-change model in six years, com

South Korea’s tire-maker Kumho Tire has won in the “concept” category of Germany’s iF Design Award 2018, the company said Tuesday. iF Design Award that boasts 65 years of history is organized by Germany’s International Forum Design, and is often dubbed as the Oscar of the design industry, along with Red Dot Design Award and IDEA Design Award.Some 6,400 pieces were submitted from 54 countries to be reviewed by 63 judges selected from different parts of the world to evaluate the design’s appeal in

Amid intense competition in Korea’s auto market, Renault Samsung Motors, the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A., set a modest goal for this year to sell 270,000 units.Its goal to sell 100,000 units here and ship 170,000 units remains unchanged from last year’s sales of 276,808 units. Carmakers, however, usually pitch an annual sales target that is about 10 percent higher than expected performance.“Customers are at the core of Renault Samsung Motors’ business goal for this year and

Posco, South Korea’s top steelmaker by sales, inked a memorandum of understanding with US-based conglomerate GE to develop a hybrid smart factory platform aimed at heightening efficiency of steel mills, the company said Tuesday.The hybrid smart factory platform PosFrame+ is to be a combination of steelmaker’s PosFrame smart factory platform alongside GE’s representative smart factory solution Asset Performance Management.“Developing smart technology for facilities will serve as a momentum-trigge