South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday its sales in China plunged 42 percent in the January-September period amid the long-drawn bilateral diplomatic row over an anti-missile system.  From January to September, Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. sold a combined 702,017 vehicles, down from 1.2 million units from a year earlier, according to the companies' sales data. Hyundai Motor suffered a 37-percent on-year decline at 489,340 autos in the first nine months and Kia Mo

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it has inked an agreement with US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. to tap deeper into the industry for self-driving automobile parts.Under the agreement, the two companies opened a join research lab for V2X technology in Seoul. They also plan to establish another research center in South Korea by the end of this year. (AP-Yonhap)The V2X technology, which refers to "vehicle to everything," focuses on bolstering connectivity among cars, infrastructure and pedestrians to en

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's largest auto parts maker by sales, has developed an air bag system for a sun roof for the first time in the automobile industry, the company said Wednesday."In the past two and a half years, the company has developed the air bag system mainly for panoramic sun roofs in sport-utility vehicles to minimize impacts in case of a rollover crash," a company spokesman said by phone.  (Yonhap)The advanced technology development will help Hyundai Mobis win air bag orders p

Kia Motors Corp. has signed a multi-year marketing partnership agreement with the US National Basketball Association, the company said Wednesday. The agreement with the NBA also applies to the Women's National Basketball Association and the NBA G League, the NBA's official minor league basketball organization, the Korean carmaker said.  (Yonhap)Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., has continued to sponsor the major sports events as part of efforts to enhance its brand image in the world's mos

Posco Chairman Kwon Oh-joon was appointed the vice chairman of the World Steel Association, which represents the interests of 160 steelmakers around the world, at the organization’s annual board meeting held in Brussels, officials in Seoul said Wednesday.Kwon is the fourth Posco chairman named to serve the post. According to the organization’s protocol, Kwon will become the chairman next year and spend another year as the vice chairman in his third year. Posco Chairman Kwon Oh-joon (left) and Ni

British auto specialist says talks ongoing with Korean battery makers to source more components at home　

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd., the luxury car affiliate of BMW Group, said Tuesday that South Korea has a big growth potential given its growing appetite for "stylish and individual" cars. "Korea is a very important landmark destination for people in Asia. More and more people are coming here. That's why we have launched the eighth-generation Phantom in this market, the first among Asian countries," Rolls-Royce Motor's Asia Pacific Regional Director Paul Harris said in a press conference. Korea's

A group of customers who bought Audi and Volkswagen vehicles involved in a diesel emissions scandal has filed a complaint against South Korea’s Environment Ministry over its approval of the German carmakers’ recall plan.In August, the ministry approved the plan to carry out a software update on a total of 82,291 units of Volkswagen and Audi models equipped with the emissions-cheating 2.0-liter EA189 diesel engine. However, the planned software update is insufficient to curb emissions and is not

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker by sales, said Monday it has strengthened its sub-brand Genesis lineup by adding a new model to help stimulate sales.  The standalone brand launched the latest version of the G80 sedan equipped with either a 3.3-liter, a 3.3-liter turbo-charged, or a 3.8-liter gasoline engine, the carmaker said in a statement.The newly added model to the G80 lineup is a 3.3-liter powered car that fields a sporty look. The refreshed Genesis comes with all the safe

Market remains watchful over GM’s next move as KDB’s veto rights to stop withdrawal expires Monday

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's No. 2 carmaker, has hired Oleg Son, a former Peugeot Citroen Automobiles SA designer, to differentiate the styling of its vehicles, the company said Wednesday. Starting early November, the French-born Oleg Son, 57, will work with Vice President Pierre Leclercq, a former BMW designer, to develop Kia's long-term design strategy and lead design innovation, the company said in a statement.  This photo, provided by Kia Motors, shows former PSA designer Oleg Son. (Yonha

Kia Motors Corp. said Tuesday its vehicle sales rose 7.1 percent in September from a year earlier on increased demand for its SUV models. The country's second-largest carmaker by sales sold 252,254 vehicles in September, up from 235,424 units a year earlier. The gains were driven by robust demand for SUV models such as the Stonic and Soul boxcar, the company said in a statement.  (Yonhap)Domestic sales jumped 25 percent on-year to 48,019 units in September from 38,300. And overseas sales climbed

Electric vehicles will have little effect on the electricity supply and demand in South Korea even if the number of emission-free cars reaches 250,000, a local report said Tuesday.The government has set the target figure by 2020, sharply up from this year's goal of 46,000. As of the end of August, the number of electric vehicles stood at 19,022, according to the documents the National Assembly Budget Office provided to Rep. Lee Che-ik of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party upon his request. 

The infotainment technology that automakers are cramming into the dashboard of new vehicles is making drivers take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel for dangerously long periods of time, an AAA study says. The study released Thursday is the latest by University of Utah professor David Strayer, who has been examining the impact of infotainment systems on safety for AAA's Foundation for Traffic Safety since 2013.  Past studies also identified problems, but Strayer said the ``explosio

Audi Volkswagen Korea, the domestic distributor of the two German brands, is in the final stage of resuming sales here after a year-long sales ban, mapping out a new online sales plan and ordering recalls of models affected by the diesel emissions scandal, the company said Monday.Volkswagen Korea said it is currently in talks with Korea’s largest mobile messenger service Kakao Talk to review the possibility of selling its vehicles through the Kakao Mobility application by as early as the end of