Hyundai Motor has received a total of 2,100 orders for its newly launched Genesis G70 sports sedan in the first day of sales on Wednesday, the company said Thursday.This is around 42 percent of this year’s sales target of 5,000 units, and threefold the average monthly sales of other European rivals last year in premium vehicle market. Hyundai Motor's Genesis G70 (Hyundai Motor)Following the launch, Hyundai Motor aims to sell 15,000 units next year here in Korea.Hyundai Motor as well plans to lau

Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday it expects to swing to an operating loss in the second half of this year due to declining sales and huge one-off costs. In the first half, the affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co. already suffered a 44 percent on-year decline in operating profit to 786.8 billion won ($695 million) largely affected by sharp sales declines in China amid bilateral diplomatic rows. As it plans to reflect 1 trillion won worth of one-off expenses in its third-quarter bottom line, Kia Motors sa

SK Telecom Co. said Thursday it successfully tested its self-driving automobile on the highway, taking a step closer toward the development of a full autonomous vehicle.South Korea's No. 1 mobile carrier said its self-driving automobile ran 26 kilometers earlier in the day with an average speed of 47 km/h from Seoul to Suwon with two passengers on board. (Yonhap)The maximum speed of self-driving cars in South Korea is currently set at 80 km/h.SK Telecom said the car increased its speed only when

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s leading automaker, said Wednesday it sealed a deal with Hyundai Oto Komersial Indonesia to supply 500 units of the Xcient heavy truck. The volume of the latest deal is Hyundai’s biggest for trucks, the company said.Hyundai Motor said it would aim to expand its presence in Indonesia’s commercial vehicle market, which is currently monopolized by Japanese commercial vehicle brands.Lee In-cheol (left), senior vice president of Hyundai Motor's commercial vehicle export di

LG Chem and Proterra, a California-based heavy-duty electric transportation manufacturer, announced on Wednesday the co-development of new battery cells. Proterra reported that its zero-emission bus model Catalyst E2 has succeeded traveling 1,772 kilometers at low speed on a single charge of batteries provided by LG Chem. The result is 83 percent further than the record of 970 km that Proterra achieved in a long-range test a year ago, it said.  Proterra‘s Catalyst E2 (Proterra)With passengers on

Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday that sales of its Genesis G70 sports sedan have begun in its home market, as the company gears up for the car's global rollout early next year.The G70, the third sedan in the revamped Genesis lineup, is designed to not only help the South Korean carmaker make its presence felt in the luxury car market, but effectively end its drought of competitiveness in the sport utility vehicle field."The new car will help the independent Genesis brand grow and expand further,

Market rumors are circulating that Hyundai Motor is looking to acquire the world’s seventh-largest auto manufacturer Fiat Chrysler Automobiles despite the automaker’s vehement denial. And a local analyst said Tuesday that Korea’s largest auto company would leap forward to become the world’s No. 1 if the deal goes through.Lee Jae-il, an analyst in charge of automobiles at Eugene Investment & Securities, said in a report that Hyundai Motor would benefit from the acquisition due to an expanded port

The sales of South Korea’s two largest automakers, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, continued to plunge in China last month amid growing competition in the local market, as well as the prolonged political tension between China and South Korea over the deployment of a US missile defense system.Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors last month sold a total 76,010 vehicles in China, compared to 124,116 units in August last year, according to the companies’ data. Hyundai Motor’s sales in Augus

Renault Samsung Motors, the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault, has released a gasoline-powered version of its popular QM6 midsize SUV, targeting drivers who drive in the city and prefer SUVs, the company said Sunday. The press took the QM6 GDe gasoline model for a test drive from Gyeongwonjae Ambassador Incheon to Grand Hyatt Incheon, totaling 60 kilometers earlier this month.Before the test drive, CEO of Renault Samsung Motors Park Dong-hoon told reporters, “SUVs are no longer for pe

Hyundai Motor Co. has named Lee Kyung-soo the new chief executive of its American unit, a post that had been vacant for nine months, according to the company's website on Saturday.    Lee, 61, joined Hyundai in 1982 and most recently served as chief executive of Hyundai Translead, a US affiliate of Hyundai Motor that produces dry and refrigerated van trailers and container chassis, Hyundai Motor's US unit said in a statement posted on its website.     Lee Kyung-soo, newly appointed CEO of Hyunda

HWASEONG, Gyeonggi Province -- Genesis, a luxury auto brand spun off from South Korea’s Hyundai Motor, unveiled its third model, the G70 sedan, with aims to expand its presence in the high-end segment, the company said Friday. 　Amid Hyundai’s weak performance at home and in the US, Genesis premium cars have been gaining popularity, which makes the first G70 sedan rolled out under the independent Genesis brand an important model. (From left) Lee Sang-yup, head of Genesis Styling, Luc Donckerwolke

South Korea is speeding up its efforts to expand charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, as global carmakers' unveiled road maps for electrification at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show, industry watchers said Friday, The government is planning to increase the number of fast-charging stations to 3,000 across the country by the end of 2018 from 1,508 at the end of June. It will more than double the number by 2020 to approximately 6,000, Lee Hyung-sup, director of the Clean Air Strategy Divi

Customers in their 50s have become one of the major purchasers of automobiles, while those in their 30s bought less, data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association showed Thursday.Thirty-somethings bought a total of 144,360 vehicles in the first half of this year, dropping by 11.1 percent compared to the same period last year. Those in their 30s made up 18.2 percent of the total number of buyers, down 1.8 percentage points on-year.The percentage has continued to decline. The associatio

Kia Motors, South Korea’s No. 2 automaker, hired former BMW designer Pierre Leclercq as part of its continued efforts to bolster the design quality of its vehicles, the company said Thursday.Leclercq previously worked as the head designer of BMW’s high performance M brand before moving to his latest post at Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors in 2013.“From the end of this month Leclercq will join Kia Motors where he will work with Chief Design Officer of Hyundai Motor Group Peter Schreyer, and h

Young people in their 20s and 30s here have been buying fewer cars in recent years as they have difficulty finding jobs and car-sharing services here are more appealing to them, industry data showed Thursday.Those in their 30s bought a total of 144,360 vehicles in the first six months this year, down 11.1 percent from 162,422 a year earlier, according to the statistics by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association. The figure accounts for 18.2 percent of 793,987 units, the total newly regist