South Korea's five carmakers said Friday their combined sales fell 1.6 percent on-year last month due mainly to weak demand from overseas markets. The five automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a total of 631,870 vehicles in August, down from 642,170 units a year earlier, according to the companies' sales data. Their domestic sales fell 12 percent to 120,847 cars last month from the previous year's 107,677 un

Kia Motors Corp. said Friday its vehicle sales rose 1 percent in August from a year earlier as higher domestic demand offset weak numbers in China.The country's second-biggest carmaker by sales sold 222,740 vehicles in August, up slightly from 220,529 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sharp sales declines in China continued to affect monthly results, the company said in a statement, citing political tensions between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the Terminal High

Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday its sales fell 6 percent in August from a year earlier on weak overseas demand, particularly in the Chinese market. The country's biggest carmaker by sales sold 336,625 vehicles in August, down from 358,252 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Declining demand from China triggered by the diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system continued to affect monthly sales figures, the carma

Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A., said Friday its August sales jumped 28 percent from a year earlier on increased exports. Renault Samsung sold 19,469 vehicles in August, up from 15,240 units the previous year, helped by strong overseas demand for its QM6 SUV, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales fell 9.2 percent on-year to 7,001 cars from 7,713 units. But exports surged 66 percent to 12,468 from 7,527 during the same period, the stat

GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Friday its August sales rose 15 percent from the previous year, helped by robust exports. GM Korea, which makes cars under the Chevrolet badge, sold 41,311 vehicles in August, up from 35,971 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement.  (Yonhap)Monthly domestic sales fell 22 percent to 10,004 autos last month from 12,773 the previous year. But exports surged 35 percent to 31,307 from 23,198 over the same period, it said. I

SsangYong Motor Co. said Friday its August sales fell 3.7 percent from a year earlier on sluggish exports. The South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. sold 11,725 vehicles in August, down from 12,178 units a year earlier, the carmaker said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 7.5 percent to 8,255 units last month from 7,676 units a year earlier. But exports plunged 23 percent to 3,470 cars from 4,502, the statement said.  (Yonhap)In the January-August period, the maker of th

South Korean automaker Kia Motors Corp. will unveil its hatchback-style concept car at an international auto show next month, the company said Thursday.The "KED-12" will be presented at the 2017 Frankfurt Auto Show and its teaser image was unveiled to the public for the first time earlier in the day. (Yonhap)Kia Motors said its European Design Center, a creative research lab based in Europe, is responsible for the design that blends dynamic performance with sleek design.This year's International

A record number of vehicles have already been recalled so far this year with 32 more cases still pending, the transport ministry said Thursday.A total of 1,382,490 cars were recalled as of Thursday involving 188 cases, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure. The number is the highest since a self-certification system was put into effect for auto manufacturers in 2003. The previous record was in 2004, when 1,369,925 vehicles were recalled.More than 1 million autos were re

The number of Korean cars sold globally between January and July this year declined 6.8 percent from the same period last year, due to slowing demand from China and the US, the world’s two biggest auto markets, a study showed Wednesday.According to Woori Finance Research Institute, Korean carmakers’ sales in US turned south for the first time since 2010, while their sales in China plummeted 45.5 percent this year.Hyundai Motor has five plants for manufacturing passenger vehicles and one for comm

Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and BAIC Motor, resumed the operations of its four plants in China on Wednesday, ending a weeklong suspension triggered by delayed payments to a local supplier.Since last week, Hyundai had halted assembly lines at its three plants in Beijing and a fourth facility in Changzhou. The carmaker was forced to stop the assembly lines temporarily, as a local partner declined to supply auto parts over delayed payments for its products.  (Yonhap)Beiji

Renault Samsung Motors Corp.'s union has tentatively agreed on this year's wage terms, after staging no strikes for the third year in a row, the company said Wednesday. In wage negotiations that began in May, the Renault Samsung Motors offered to raise basic salaries by 62,400 won ($56) a month and provide 150 percent of basic pay plus cash of 6 million won in bonuses per worker.  (Yonhap)On Friday, some 2,500 union members will vote to decide on whether to accept the terms or not. If more than

Hyundai Motor Co.'s union said Tuesday its new leadership will resume wage talks with the company in November, as no headway has been made after 28 rounds of "fruitless" negotiations. "We have decided to suspend wage talks with the company as its revised offerings were not satisfactory at all. Once a new union leader is elected next month a leadership structure should be in place by October, and these people can then handle the wage deal in November," a union spokesman said over the phone.The co

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest carmaker, has suspended the operations of its manufacturing plants in China, the carmaker said Tuesday.The carmaker’s office in China, Beijing Hyundai, has decided to halt its three plants in the Chinese capital and a fourth facility in Changzhou. (Yonhap)The decision came as local partners are declining to supply auto parts to Hyundai in a show of complaint over delayed payments for their products.Beijing Hyundai has failed to pay around 18.9 billion won ($1

Twelve diesel vehicles imported by Audi Volkswagen Korea, which have been suspended from sales on charges of manipulating related documents, have passed emissions tests set by South Korea’s Environment Ministry, officials said Tuesday.The National Institute of Environmental Research, an agency under the ministry commissioned to run emissions tests on vehicles aiming to enter the market here, has approved the diesel cars, which include the small sport utility vehicle Tiguan and Arteon, the latest

A test bed area for autonomous cars will be built west of Seoul by the end of next year to put test vehicles through real world road and traffic conditions, the transport ministry said Tuesday.Groundbreaking for K-City will be held on Wednesday in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to build the 320,000 square-meter facility for 11 billion won ($9.77 million), according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.  The facility will have simulated roads that like highways, downtown areas, cit