Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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Toyota learned of window defect before recall
Toyota Motor Corp. first learned in 2008 about a defect in power-window switches that last week prompted it to recall 7.43 million vehicles worldwide for fire hazards, according to documents filed with U.S. regulators. Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, received a report in September 2008 from the U.S. about “an unusual smell” from the power-window master switch and “thermal damage” to the switch, the company said in a report posted Friday on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administra
Oct. 14, 2012
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Honda’s record sales led by new compacts in emerging markets
Honda Motor Co. president Takanobu Ito forecast growth over the next two to three years will be led by sales of its range of new Fit vehicles as Japan’s third- biggest automaker expands in emerging markets. “We will see the good uplifting effect from the Fit series,” Ito, 59, said Friday in an interview at his Tokyo office, where Honda’s spaceman-like Asimo robot greets visitors by name. “So around the world, I believe 2013, 2014, 2015 will be years of growth.” Ito’s focus on the Fit, a vehicle
Oct. 14, 2012
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Avante challenged by new K3, SM3
Import brands set to fuel competition in compact car marketHyundai Motor’s flagship compact Avante has never lost its top-seller position in the nation’s small family car segment in the past 12 years.The Avante sold 81,256 units in the first nine months of this year, making up more than 60 percent of compact car sales here. However, the game seems to be changing in the second half of the year, as other carmakers are revving up the competition with their new models. For now, industry watchers say
Oct. 14, 2012
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Hyundai, Kia forecast to log record sales in Q4
South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. are forecast to post record sales in the final three months of the year on increased production and growing overseas demand, analysts said Thursday.“Hyundai and Kia will likely expand production in local plants by encouraging overtime work until the end of the year, with their overseas factories growing steadily,” said Lee Hyung-sil, an analyst from Shinyoung Securities Co.“Their factories will continue to operate at full capacity as
Oct. 11, 2012
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Hyundai, Kia thrive in China as Japanese cars stumble
Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors forecast sales in China will exceed their targets as South Korea’s two largest carmakers benefit from a wave of anti-Japan protests in the world’s largest vehicle market.The two carmakers will probably sell more vehicles in 2012 than the 1.25 million they had projected, Seoul-based Hyundai Motor said in a statement Sunday. Combined deliveries rose to 127,827 units last month, or 9.5 percent higher than the previous record set a year earlier, it said.Non-Jap
Oct. 9, 2012
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Imported car sales jump 20.6% in September
Sales of foreign-made vehicles in South Korea jumped 20.6 percent in September on-year to reach a record high, fueled by sales promotions and a steady demand for premium models, a trade association said Monday.A total of 12,123 imported vehicles were sold here last month, exceeding the 12,000-level for the first time since foreign cars first made inroads into the South Korean market in 1987, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. The figure also represents a 14
Oct. 8, 2012
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Japanese car sales in China tumble on anti-Tokyo protests
Mazda Motor Corp.’s deliveries in China tumbled to the lowest in 19 months as anti-Japan protests flared in the world’s largest vehicle market, fueling concern larger automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. will follow suit.Mazda reported Friday China deliveries dropped 35 percent last month to 13,258 vehicles, meaning the company didn’t even match its sales during the aftermath of last year’s tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Saturday Chinese sales plunged 63 p
Oct. 7, 2012
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California gas stations shut as oil refiners ration supplies
Gasoline station owners in the Los Angeles area including Costco Wholesale Corp. are beginning to shut pumps as the state’s oil refiners started rationing supplies and spot prices surged to a record. Valero Energy Corp. stopped selling gasoline on the spot, or wholesale, market in Southern California and is allocating deliveries to customers. Exxon Mobil Corp. is also rationing fuel to U.S. West Coast terminal customers. Costco’s outlet in Simi Valley, 64 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles, ran
Oct. 7, 2012
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Whisky to fuel cars as professor drives recycling
Martin Tangney has a vision that combines romantic historical and cultural images of Scotland with a business of the future: He wants to turn the waste from making whisky into fuel for vehicles. “The beauty is its simplicity,” says Tangney, 47, founder of Celtic Renewables Ltd., an Edinburgh-based company that grew out of his research work as director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University. “Scotch Whisky is synonymous with Scotland, like bagpipes and kilts.” The professor
Oct. 7, 2012
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Hyundai seeks premium ranks with new design
Design chief hints new Genesis will become a game-changerIt was on a rare occasion that Hyundai Motor’s design center opened its doors to the media. To enter the guarded facility, visitors are required to pass through two checkpoints. At the first one, all identification cards and laptops are submitted, while security stickers seal shut the cameras, including those in mobile phones. Security seems air-tight at this Gyeonggi Province-based facility, more so at this time as the next generation Gen
Oct. 7, 2012
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India’s Mahindra worried about reignited Ssangyong controversy
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
Sept. 24, 2012
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Porsche, Daimler indicate Europe’s car crisis spreading
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
Sept. 23, 2012
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Hyundai Motor targets Africa, Brazil markets
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
Sept. 23, 2012
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Congressmen present U.S. flag to Hyundai Motor for charity
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.
Sept. 21, 2012
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Japan’s first new-vehicle niche in 50 years imitates cart
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
Sept. 16, 2012
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Foreign brands tap used car market
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
Sept. 16, 2012
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Fiat CEO says German peers ‘deaf’ to call for EU help
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
Sept. 16, 2012
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Hyundai Veloster passes Mini Cooper in U.S.
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
Sept. 9, 2012
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Lexus August sales rise 34%, push past Mercedes, BMW
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
Sept. 9, 2012
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VW overtakes Mercedes to become 2nd in import market
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
Sept. 9, 2012