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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GM chief Akerson worried about second half
General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, is worried that Europe’s economic weakness will affect the second half of 2012, the company’s top executive said. “You can see softness in Europe,” Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson told an audience at the Executives’ Club of Chicago. “If there were a meltdown in the euro, which I don’t think there will be, I think it would be pretty impactful on, certainly, the United States” and China. Akerson, who oversaw GM regaining its title of world’s large
July 8, 2012
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Nissan GT-R an ‘everyday supercar’
Chief engineer Mizuno shares concept and vision of company’s flagship sports carThe Nissan GT-R is designed to become an everyday supercar for everyone, said Kazutoshi Mizuno, who is affectionately called the “father” of the Japanese carmaker’s flagship sports car, in Seoul last week. “While other supercars are sold in a closed market for some healthy, rich people who have several cars, GT-R is targeting an open market for everyone,” said the chief vehicle engineer and chief product specialist f
July 8, 2012
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Volkswagen to pay $5.6b for rest of Porsche after 7-year saga
Volkswagen AG agreed to buy the 50.1 percent stake in Porsche SE’s automotive business that it doesn’t already own for 4.46 billion euros ($5.6 billion), ending a seven-year takeover saga that divided two of Germany’s most powerful families. VW was able to proceed with the transaction after reaching an agreement with German tax authorities, it said in an emailed statement late yesterday. The cash
July 5, 2012
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Mercedes looks to SUVs to extend lead in U.S. luxury race
After ceding the top spot for U.S. luxury car sales for more than a decade, Mercedes-Benz is plotting a comeback with new and updated sport-utility vehicles. The German automaker said its U.S. deliveries gained 18 percent this year through May, to 106,364 luxury vehicles. That puts Mercedes just ahead of rival Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which last year stripped Lexus of the U.S. premium crown that the Toyota Motor Corp. unit took from Mercedes in 2000. “Mercedes has upped its game,” said Rebec
July 1, 2012
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Toyota, BMW partner up on sports car technology
Toyota Motor Corp. said it will seek to gain from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s expertise in sports cars as a partnership on new powering systems expands to include auto components and high-performance vehicles. The carmakers will collaborate on developing fuel cells, lightweight materials and electric powertrains under a memorandum of understanding signed today, they said at a press conference at BMW’s Munich headquarters. “BMW knows how to make a car perform,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said
July 1, 2012
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European automakers see no drastic sales increase after FTA
Additional tariff cut applied from July 1, but effect may be limitedEuropean carmakers expect no drastic increase in sales here despite tariff cuts on their cars exported to Korea in the wake of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement.The automakers said that the tariff cuts will only have a “psychologically” positive effect on its sales of cars in Korea.July 1 marked the first anniversary of the Korea-EU FTA in action. The tariff imposed on imported European cars fell for the second time, from 5.6 pe
July 1, 2012
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Renault to expand car lineup in Korea
A top Renault Group executive unveiled a plan to launch a new lineup of small crossover compact utility vehicles in its Korean unit despite shrinking sales here.“The market in Korea is changing, and the fragmentation of the market is increasing, therefore we have set to introduce by late 2013 a brand-new model which is going to be a small crossover that will strongly enhance the competitiveness after four years,” Renault Group chief operating officer Carlos Tavares said in a news conference in S
June 27, 2012
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Small models boosting Hyundai’s sales in Europe
Small cars like i10 and cee’d gain popularity as Europeans cut back on spending amid debt crisisEurope’s widening woes is not stopping Hyundai Motor Group’s offensive in the region’s contracting car market where the Korean auto giant continues strong growth. Demand for new passenger cars in Europe was down for the eighth consecutive month in May, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. With new registrations falling 8.7 percent from April, most European car makers suffer
June 24, 2012
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Birds poop on red cars most: study
Red cars attract more bird droppings than any other color, news reports said Sunday.A U.K. study said it analyzed more than 1100 cars over a two-day period and at the end, 18 percent of the pooped-on cars were red. Another 14 percent were blue, followed by black with 11 percent, white with 7 percent and grey or silver with 3 percent.Green cars only got 1 percent of the bird bombs, news reports sa
June 24, 2012
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Hyundai, Kia increase Europe market share
Hyundai Motor Co. and sister brand Kia, already boosting sales in Europe’s contracting auto market, are extending their challenge to Fiat SpA and PSA Peugeot Citroen by enlisting soccer stars to steal customers.The Korean carmaker is attracting Europeans by stepping up sponsorship of their favorite pastime, hiring soccer heroes like Germany’s Lukas Podolski and France’s Karim Benzema to promote Hyundai as part of a marketing blitz focused around the European championship, the region’s biggest to
June 20, 2012
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Renault Samsung seeks image upgrade with electric SM3
Times have been tough for Renault Samsung Motors, the maker of SM series sedans ― SM3, SM5, SM7 and QM5.The automaker sold 246,959 cars last year, 9 percent less than the previous year. It delivered 109,221 units in Korea and 137,738 overseas.In the first quarter of this year, the company suffered the biggest drop in year-on-year sales among the five major players, including Hyundai, Kia, GM Korea and Ssangyong. In order to give fresh momentum to its sluggish domestic sales, RSM is now pinning i
June 17, 2012
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Fiat cuts spending as Peugeot sells assets as sales slump
Fiat SpA will cut investments in Europe by 500 million euros ($632 million) and PSA Peugeot Citroen plans to sell a larger stake in its trucking unit as the region’s automakers grapple with an extended market slump.“The capital expenditure reduction is about half a billion euros from what we planned last year for 2012 in Europe,” chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said late Thursday in an interview in Madrid, where he’s heading the annual gathering of the European Automobile Manufacturers
June 17, 2012
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Korea’s car industry refutes EU officials’ argument on FTA
The nation’s automobile sector has refuted claims by some European car industry leaders that Korean carmakers are enjoying huge benefits under the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement.On the contrary, a greater beneficiary of the bilateral FTA ― which took effect on July 1, 2011 ― is the European counterpart, the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said Wednesday.KAMA clarified that the trade pact offers little benefit in terms of tariff elimination to the automobile sector, highlighting the man
June 13, 2012
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Hyundai bets longer Elantra will help narrow China gap
Hyundai Motor Co. has made steady progress in China in recent years by courting consumers on reliability and price. Now it’s betting that a new factory and an updated version of its top-selling model will give it the edge it needs to further boost sales of both small cars and more expensive -- and more profitable -- vehicles. Hyundai this month will open the 6.5 billion yuan ($1 billion) Beijing plant, where it plans to produce Elantra sedans that are slightly longer and taller than the current
June 10, 2012
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One in four import car consumers chooses BMW
German automaker dominates expanding import market in KoreaBMW grabbed 25.5 percent of the nation’s import automobile market in May, according to statistics provided by Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.BMW’s further growth in terms of market share is drawing wide interest now that the automaker has secured its long-standing No. 1 position in Korea with a large-scale sales volume.“Theoretically speaking, a 10 percent growth in the monthly sales for BMW and, say, Volvo is no
June 10, 2012
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Renault Samsung to bet on electric car as sales slump
Automaker struggles to find breakthrough in sagging sales of gasoline-powered carsHit by a prolonged slump in vehicle sales, Renault Samsung Motors seems to be staking all on its mass production of electric cars from early next year to jockey for the nascent market in Korea. The automaker showcased high-end technologies in its first electric car model ― the SM3 Z.E. ― during the 2012 Busan International Motor Show, which was held from May 24-June 3.Renault Samsung, which is offering test drives
June 8, 2012
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Import car firms continue to break sales records
Import car brands broke the all-time high record in vehicle sales for the third consecutive month so far this year.After attaining record figures in March and again in April, foreign carmakers saw their combined sales come to a fresh high of 11,708 units in May, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said Tuesday.“The record-breaking streak for three months in a row is noteworthy because the former record before March 2012 was the figure posted a year before (10,290 units in
June 5, 2012
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Hyundai, Kia to launch four new models in second half
Upgraded Sorento R, Equus, K3, Tucson ix to debut in second halfHyundai Motor and Kia Motors will continue to push for releases of new vehicle models during the latter half of this year, following their strategies in the first half.They will collectively launch at least four new models ― the Sorento R, Equus, Tucson ix, and K3, according to executives of the affiliated automakers.As their first event for the second half, Kia Motors is poised to unveil the facelift model of the Sorento R, the com
June 4, 2012
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Mahindra to reveal model developed with Ssangyong Motor in 2015
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s biggest SUV maker, will reveal the first jointly developed platform with Ssangyong Motor Co. by 2015, seeking to integrate its South Korean unit and boost margins from a five-year low. Mahindra will spend 300 billion won ($253 million) to develop the platform with the automaker it acquired last year, Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s automotive division, said. The two companies have also begun working on a new engine, he said.New products catering to emergin
June 3, 2012
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Mercedes leads BMW in U.S. sales for year after May gain
Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz held onto the U.S. luxury-vehicle sales lead for the year over Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW brand, as Mercedes deliveries in May jumped 19 percent. Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus brand, rebounding from inventory shortages after last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, soared 74 percent to 21,463. U.S. sales of Mercedes vehicles rose to 22,515 last month while BMW deliveries increased 7.3 percent to 22,168, according to statements yesterday from the companies. Lexu
June 3, 2012