A car is not only a means of transportation to get you from A to B. It is also a place where you spend a lot of time. Many traveling salesmen spend more time in their car than in their office or their living room. So let’s develop a car where you can do things you typically do in your office or in your living room. As you make yourself at home in a perfectly comfortable driver seat, your smartphone automatically connects with the on-board communication ― and entertainment system. Your personal s

Chevrolet’s European chief talks Herald Interview on her ambitions for new small SUV

Due to the high amount of choice customers now, delivering an ordinary customer experience is not enough to ensure customer loyalty. Companies that provide exceptional service have a strong competitive advantage. Customers are prepared to pay higher prices, make additional purchases, are more loyal and recommend the business to others. In Korea, expectations are particularly high as customers are exposed to good service in different fields. Landing in Incheon airport, for instance, has always be

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to build Lexus ES 350 sedans at an existing Kentucky plant, the first U.S. production for its luxury brand, as Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda pushes to localize output in its biggest markets. Toyoda and Jim Lentz, Toyota’s North American chief, said on Saturday in New York that production of the ES, the top-selling Lexus car in the U.S., starts at its Georgetown, Kentucky, complex in 2015. The company said it’s investing $360 million to add a Lexus line, expanding G

Hybrid Panamera makes global debut in Shanghai

Korean carmakers show off futuristic vehicles in key China market

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volkswagen AG increased their currency hedging in 2012 to reduce the risk that foreign-exchange market swings would harm revenue, according to annual reports from the German carmakers. BMW, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, raised its protection in foreign-exchange markets by 39 percent from the previous year to 36 billion euros ($47 billion), according to the report published on March 19. Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, boosted hedges by 27 percen

General Motors Co. outsold Volkswagen AG in China for the first time in three quarters, helped by growth in demand for Buick vehicles. Volkswagen, which unlike GM includes Hong Kong and Macau in its China figures, today reported first-quarter sales in China climbed 21 percent to about 770,000 vehicles. That’s 5.7 percent fewer than the deliveries reported by GM last week. The results give Detroit-based GM a head start as it seeks to keep its lead ― on an annual basis ― among foreign automakers i

Michael Vetter, CEO of Stuttgart Sports Cars, talks on ‘selling dreams’ to Korean customers, and his own Porsche dream

The chief executive of General Motors and the head of its Opel unit in Germany will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel this week to discuss the rejection of a plant closure timetable by workers which could speed the factory’s shutdown.With job losses looming at Opel’s Bochum plant and against a background of European car sales in freefall, government spokesman Georg Streiter said Dan Akerson and Karl-Thomas Neumann will have a one-hour session with Merkel in Berlin on Thursday.Merkel is seeking a thi

Japan is becoming Ferrari’s next growth market. Registrations of Fiat SpA’s ultra-luxury brand surged 40 percent to 144 vehicles in Japan last quarter, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association on Thursday. That’s more than twice the pace in the larger U.S. market, while demand is slumping in China, at home and across Europe. The surge in demand for luxury cars adds to signs that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are succeeding in reviving spendin

The Korea Herald, in cooperation with carmakers, offers a test-driving experience to executive officials at Korean or multinational companies or ranking diplomats here. The opinion below is the author’s own. For any inquiry into this column, please contact jylee@heraldcorp.com. ― Ed.I must admit I was not initially prepared to like the Audi A8L TDI Quattro. I had never been a huge fan of Audis primarily because I always thought the four rings, overall shape and other external styling features la

Toyota, the Japanese carmaker that has become a favorite among Korean car lovers for its practical yet sleek Camry, is out to pursue “harmony” with its newest lineup of cars unveiled at the Seoul Motor Show last week. “We’re all about harmony ― harmony between different generations and harmony between all types of roads, including on and off,” said Toyota Motor Korea chief executive Tommy Nakabayashi, in Korean no less, during the presentation last week to showcase Toyota’s newest toys.Among the