Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. will stage a partial strike on Monday after seven rounds of walkouts that already cost the company 620 billion won ($553 million) in production losses, corporate sources said.The company's union said its day-shift workers at Hyundai's main plants in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will go on strike for four hours from 11:30 a.m. It also said night-shift workers are planning to stay clear of work for four hours from 8:20 p.m. At the same time as th

German automotive company BMW on Sunday said its new seventh-generation 5 Series launched in Korea last February is the fruit of the carmaker’s cutting-edge partial self-driving technology. BMW Korea sold a total of 8,063 units of the new seventh-generation 5 Series between February and July this year, the company said. A partial self-driving system panel is located on the left of the steering wheel of the new seventh-generation 5 Series (BMW Korea)The 5 Series is BMW’s best-seller, with over 7.

Yeongjongdo, INCHEON -- Amid a worldwide sport utility vehicle boom, Jaguar Land Rover Korea, the local importer and distributor of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, is slated to add a fourth Range Rover SUV, dubbed Velar, to its lineup next month to offer one of its best on-road SUVs, the company said Sunday. The Range Rover Velar on roads in Yongjong Island, Incheon (Jaguar Land Rover Korea)The launch comes as Korean motorists’ demand for midsize SUVs has been on the rise.Germany luxury BMW, for

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Sunday it will develop a technology that can enhance the safety of babies left unattended in the backseat. The Korean carmaker plans to gradually incorporate the "rear-seat passenger alert system" to its vehicles starting next year. It said the same features will be applied to car made by its sister company Kia Motors Corp.  This graphic image provided by Hyundai Motor Co. shows how its rear-seat passenger alert system works. (Yonh

The sale of luxury sport-utility vehicles is on the rise in South Korea as an increasing number of local customers choose recreational vehicles over sedans, industry data showed Sunday. The global SUV market has grown rapidly in recent years, with the ratio of SUVs accounting for 25 percent of total vehicle sales in 2016, up from 17 percent in 2012, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Exporters Association.In South Korea, the SUV ratio also jumped to 41 percent last year fr

A Seoul court is set to issue a ruling on the case involving wages at Kia Motors Corp. next week, a judiciary official said Thursday, a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for South Korean industries.Next Thursday, the Seoul Central District Court will decide whether to count "regular" bonuses at the carmaker as part of basic wages, the court spokesman Kim Shin-yoo said over the phone. In a text message sent to Yonhap News Agency, Kia Motors said, "Carmakers have little room to hi

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. still struggled last month in China, posting a 37 percent on-year slump in their vehicle sales in the world's largest automotive market, industry data showed on Thursday.In July, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors sold a combined 70,017 vehicles there, down from 111,021 units a year earlier, the companies' data showed.  The results were mainly affected by political tensions between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a US missile defense system

Hyundai Motor‘s Santa Cruz crossover truck concept vehicle unveiled at the 2015 Detroit motor show. (Hyundai Motor Group)Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s No.1 automotive company, will tap into the pickup truck market in the US with the aim of boosting its sluggish sales there, the company said Wednesday.Michael J. O‘Brien, vice president of corporate and product planning at Hyundai Motor America, said the company’s top management in Seoul had approved plans to go ahead with pickup truck development,

Kaher Kazem, the newly appointed CEO of GM Korea, met with unionized workers of the company ahead of his inauguration next week, the company said Tuesday. At the meeting, the new local head is expected to ask the labor union for cooperation in improving the company’s competitiveness.Kazem will head GM India until the end of this month. He will begin his post as the new CEO of the Korean unit on Sept. 1, following James Kim.“The new CEO is currently going back and forth between India and Korea to

South Korea‘s auto industry has been backtracking on high cost and low productivity triggered by continuing labor disputes, CEOs of carmakers and partmakers said Tuesday.At a seminar held by Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the profit structure of the industry has been deteriorating due to rising labor costs despite the country suffers from declining auto production and exports. The escalating tension between the management and the labor over pay raises has made not only Korean carmak

ON SILKROAD -- A team of SsangYong Motor’s Rexton Trans-Eurasia Trail team travel parts of the Silk Road in eastern China that links Asia and Europe. Kicking off from Beijing on Aug. 11, the team is set to travel 18 cities in seven countries all the way to Europe, or about 10,000 kilometers, before its European debut in Frankfurt on Sept. 12. (SsangYong Motor)

Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia together became the world’s second-largest green carmaker in the first half of the year, taking the No. 2 spot three years earlier than they had planned.　According to IHS Markit, Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 102,480 units of eco-friendly vehicles between January and June, a 126.1 percent increase from the same period last year and similar to their combined annual sales last year. The two carmaking units under Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s second-l

Unionized workers at Kia Motors Corp. will stage a partial strike to demand higher wages, the carmaker's union said Monday. The walkout planned for Tuesday comes as Kia's management and its 28,240-strong union failed to narrow a gap over wages and other benefits in this year's collective bargaining negotiations.  "After weeks of talks with the management, Kia workers have decided to carry out the strike in line with planned strikes by (its umbrella labor group) the Korean Metal Workers' Union,"

Amid declining sales and popularity of Hyundai Motor vehicles worldwide, the country’s leading automotive company is recruiting experienced workers to strengthen its independent premium brand Genesis, the company said Monday.Hyundai Motor will look for experts to work on marketing and strategy planning of Genesis, alongside software experts for autonomous driving and connected cars, and experts in eco-friendly vehicles batteries until Sept. 3.“The recruitment shows Hyundai’s efforts to boost sal

Renault Samsung Motor's Twizy ultra-compact EV (Renault Samsung Motor)Amid the growing popularity of electric vehicles, ultra-compact EVs are emerging as a new form of transportation due to mobility on congested roads as well as their affordability, industry watchers said Sunday.“Ultra-compact EVs have been mentioned as the next generation of mobility for drivers living in clustered cities for quite a while now. The latest trend that began in Europe has recently landed in Korea,” said Kwon Soon-