Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Tuesday it expects to sell more than 300,000 vehicles in the Middle East this year thanks to strong demand for its newly launched Sonata mid-size sedan there.Hyundai Motor expected that it may sell about 340,000 vehicles in 10 Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon. The sales would be 3 percent larger than a year earlier. This would mark the third straight year that Hyundai's car sales exceed 300

Ssangyong Motor Co. said Monday it has started to receive pre-orders for the Tivoli crossover ahead of its official sale starting earlier next year. The Tivoli is the latest model Ssangyong Motor has unveiled following the Korando C in 2011. The new crossover vehicle is equipped with alloy wheels, LED rear lamps and the "smart steer" that provides three modes of steering -- normal, comport and sports -- as basic options. The crossover also provides roomy inside space along with a 423 liter cargo

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Monday it has hired a ranking official from BMW to lead its  research and development for high-performing vehicles. Albert Biermann, 57, was named a vice president for Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors Corp. He will start work on April 1."We will have him in charge of developing high-performing vehicles and leading (research efforts on) performance, safety, durability, noise oscillation and system development," Hyundai Motor said

Nissan Motor Co., which along with partners Renault SA and OAO AvtoVAZ has the biggest market share in Russia, has stopped taking orders for some models in the country and will keep raising prices if the ruble continues to slide.The automaker also plans to increase production in Japan and boost exports from the country to benefit from the weaker yen, Carlos Ghosn, chief executive officer of Nissan, told reporters Friday at the company’s headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Nissan will still stick to

Hyundai Motor Co.'s brand-new i20 hatchback has been named the best car in India for this year by major Indian newspapers, the automaker said Thursday.  The i20, known as the Elite i20 in the local market, was selected as the "Indian Car of the Year 2015" on Wednesday, local time, according to Hyundai Motor.   The award is annually granted by a panel composed of journalists from 10 leading newspapers in India based on price, performance, innovative features, design, fuel efficiency, safety and c

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, said Thursday that its auto sales in China grew 7.6 percent in November, driven by brisk demand for its Avante compact model.   Hyundai Motor said that it sold a total of 99,045 vehicles in China last month, compared with 92,008 tallied during the same month a year earlier.    This marked the third straight month of sales increase, though the growth rate slowed from the previous month's 15.5 percent gain.   The hike is attributable to more sales

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday that four of their models won top spots in a dependability study among cars sold in China.   Hyundai's subcompact Accent was named the best car in the compact upper segment, beating competitors such as Volkswagen's supermini Polo and Japanese carmaker Toyota's Yaris in the Vehicle Dependability Study by J.D. Power and Associates, a U.S.-based marketing information service provider, the company said in

The Genesis, a high-end passenger car by South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co., has been named the safest car of the year in a vehicle safety test that evaluated 12 other cars including the Audi A6 and the Ford Explorer, the transportation ministry said Wednesday.  According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Genesis scored 96.6 points out of a possible 100 in four crash tests that covered frontal and side-impact tests.   The Sorento sport utility vehicle (SUV) from Kia Motors

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, on Tuesday took the wraps off of its new Sonata hybrid midsize sedan as the company moves to expand its footprint in the rapidly growing green vehicle market.   The new vehicle that took 27 months and 180 billion won (US$164.2 million) to develop incorporates the refined Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design found on all new Hyundai models, and has been tested to achieve "best in class" combined fuel economy of 18.2 kilometers on a liter of fuel when equ

Hyundai Motor Co. and its corporate cousin Kia Motors Corp. said Monday they aim to increase sales and market presence in 2015 by adapting to global changes in consumer demand and by launching new cars that can better appeal to people around the world.   In a meeting of top executives representing Hyundai and Kia operations abroad, the two companies predicted overall global car sales to rise by 3.9 percent on-year to 87.1 million units, up from 80.99 million forecast for 2014.  The two firms, th