The Korea Herald

India’s Mahindra worried about reignited Ssangyong controversy

Sept 24, 2012

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., the owner of Ssangyong Motor Co., is concerned about the recent parliamentary debate on Ssangyong’s mass layoff in 2009, but has no immediate plans to reinstate fired workers, a local business organization said Monday.Faced with a severe liquidity crunch, Ssangyong Motor, the smallest carmaker in South Korea that specializes in sport utility vehicles, was forced to lay off 2,600 workers, or 37 percent of its workforce, in August 2009.“If the restructuring in August 2009
Porsche, Daimler indicate Europe’s car crisis spreading

Sept 23, 2012

Daimler AG and Porsche AG provided evidence that the worst European car market in 17 years has started to spread to the luxury brands, mirroring a broader recession that has spilled from southern Europe to Germany. Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler said yesterday that operating profit at Mercedes-Benz Cars will fall this year, lowering a previous target of matching the 2011 figure, while Porsche plans to build fewer than the 155,000 cars and sport- utility vehicles originally planned for next yea
Hyundai Motor targets Africa, Brazil markets

Sept 23, 2012

Indian plant takes on exports to Africa; Brazilian plant starts car productionHyundai Motor is expanding its presence in Africa and Brazil ― two of the several automobile markets with mammoth growth potential ― by diversifying export models.While the largest carmaker in Korea is making the most of its manufacturing factory in India for its vehicle exports to African nations, it launched regular operation of its Brazilian factory over the weekend.Hyundai Motor has been closely competing with Toy
Congressmen present U.S. flag to Hyundai Motor for charity

Sept 21, 2012

A group of 96 U.S. congressmen helping children suffering from cancer presented the star-spangled banner which had been hung in the Capitol in Washington D.C. to Hyundai Motor Co., in appreciation of the Korean carmaker’s support for the campaign, company officials said on Friday.Hyundai Motor is currently the only private company that the U.S. organization Childhood Cancer Caucus has invited for two consecutive years as an official partner for the community service program, the officials said.
Japan’s first new-vehicle niche in 50 years imitates cart

Sept 16, 2012

It’s smaller than a golf cart, runs on electricity and will probably soon be road-legal. The ultracompact is set to be Japan’s first new vehicle niche in 50 years and an opportunity for the likes of Yoshiro Sugimoto. Town EV, Sugimoto’s startup, plans to have the 800,000 yen ($10,000) ZEVe ultracompact on the market in Japan next year. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” said Sugimoto, 62, a former Toyota Motor Corp. veteran of 16 years who became fascinated by ultracompacts and pooled 20 mil
Foreign brands tap used car market

Sept 16, 2012

More drivers consider used import cars for cheaper price and better after-sales serviceThe coming weeks ahead of the Chuseok holiday at the end of this month are the peak season for the used car market here, according to dealers. “People want to meet their relatives in a better car even though it is secondhand. You can also find a better deal during the period,” said Im Min-kyoung, a spokesperson for SK Encar, the nation’s largest used car dealer. She added that a new trend within the industry
Fiat CEO says German peers ‘deaf’ to call for EU help

Sept 16, 2012

Fiat SpA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said German carmakers are sticking to their opposition to his efforts to form a united front to push the European Union to address overcapacity in the region. Calls for coordinated efforts have “fallen on deaf ears, certainly from my German colleagues, who do not see the need,” Marchionne, who is also head of Chrysler Group LLC, told reporters Friday in Detroit. Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG are resisting a proposal b
Hyundai Veloster passes Mini Cooper in U.S.

Sept 9, 2012

Hyundai Motor Co.’s sports compact Veloster outperformed BMW Mini Cooper in the U.S. market for the first time this year in August, the South Korean automaker said Sunday.According to Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest automaker, the company sold 3,708 units of the Veloster last month, making it the second most popular vehicle of its segment in the U.S. following the Fiat 500, which sold 4,150 units in August.The Mini Cooper of BMW AG came in third place with 3,688 units sold in August.This is
Lexus August sales rise 34%, push past Mercedes, BMW

Sept 9, 2012

Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus, which lost its crown as the top-selling luxury auto brand in the U.S. last year, boosted sales 34 percent last month to move past Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.It’s the first time the Japanese luxury brand beat both of its German competitors to be No. 1 in monthly sales since December 2010 before inventory was hurt by last year’s natural disasters in Asia. Lexus sold 24,237 vehicles in August, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said in a
VW overtakes Mercedes to become 2nd in import market

Sept 9, 2012

VW ranked No. 2 in August with rapid on-year growth in salesVolkswagen, which has the dominant position in Beijing in market share, was not a noteworthy automaker in Korea about 10 years ago.Though Volkswagen saw its sales ranking gradually rise over the past few years, it has fallen behind the other two German players ― BMW and Mercedes-Benz ― among import brands in Korea.Last month, Volkswagen ranked second in sales among 24 import automobile brands in the local market, overtaking Mercedes-Be
Domestic car sales plunge in August

Sept 3, 2012

Domestic car sales by the nation’s five automakers in August plunged 22.4 percent on-year, but Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors posted robust overseas production and sales, data showed on Monday.Hyundai Motor sold 293,924 vehicles at home and abroad in August, down 4.6 percent from a year earlier, as domestic sales alone fell almost 30 percent.The nation’s largest carmaker’s monthly domestic sales tumbled 29.9 percent on-year to 35,950 units, mainly due to weaker domestic demand and the aftermath of
Vehicle sales seen buoyed in U.S. as incentives grow

Sept 2, 2012

Car shoppers have long known that they can often buy at lower prices at the end of the month as dealers slash prices to meet sales quotas. Their chances for such deals have been especially strong as 2012 wears on. Honda Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are all using so-called stair-step programs to give rewards to dealers whose sales reach thresholds set by the companies. Programs such as Honda’s, which started in March to boost Accord deliveries, sweeten incentives for deale
Hyundai inks R&D tie-up with U.S. colleges

Sept 2, 2012

Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday that it has agreed with two U.S. elite schools to build a research center in a bid to enhance global research and development capability and nurture talented engineers in the automotive sector. The Korean auto giant, which owns Hyundai and Kia brands, signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Davis for the establishment of the “Hyundai Center of Excellence.”UC Berkeley and UC Davis are known
Global automaker chiefs visit Korea to boost local operations

Sept 2, 2012

Dynamic import car market, Hyundai’s powerful dominance attract iconic leaders in car industryBig names in the global auto industry have been flocking to Korea recently. Starting with the surprise visit by Toyota Motor CEO Akio Toyoda in January, Renault-Nissan Alliance chairman Carlos Ghosn announced a new investment plan in Korea in July and Ford Motor’s CEO Alan Mulally last week renewed commitment to the Korean market. On Tuesday, Torsten Muller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls Royce Motor Cars, is also
BMW to build mammoth driving center in Korea

Aug 30, 2012

Korea becomes first Asian country to have such a BMW facilityBMW Group Korea announced Thursday that it will build a large-scale driving center on Yeongjong Island, where Incheon International Airport is located, by 2014.This will mark the fourth driving center of Munich-based BMW Group, following two in Germany and one in the United States.The import automobile brand plans to pour 70 billion won ($61.9 million) into construction of the BWM Group Driving Center on a site of 250,000 square meters