Mercedes-Benz Korea sold 80,976 units last year -- the first time an auto importer has sold more than 80,000 in a year here -- while claiming the top spot for the seventh consecutive year among foreign automakers in South Korea. Thomas Klein, who is wrapping up his 2 1/2-year tenure as the CEO of the German carmaker’s Korean office this week, says the auto brand’s success here is linked to Korean customers’ "discerning taste." “I believe South Koreans in general

Mobility June 21, 2023

Kolon Group, a South Korean chemical and textile conglomerate, is looking to become a global space parts supplier as it continues to build upon its strength of developing and manufacturing composite materials. “Our business is to supply all parts that are made up of composite materials, so we are developing technologies that can produce composite-materials-made components that go into a space launch vehicle,” said Bang Min-soo, CEO of Kolon Glotech, in an interview with The Korea Her

Companies June 19, 2023

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars on Friday showcased its first all-electric vehicle, Spectre, in South Korea for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region. “I must say that Korea has the largest number of preorders for this Rolls-Royce Spectre in the Asia-Pacific region and this is the reason why our Korean customers will be the first to see the Spectre in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Irene Nikkein, regional director of Asia-Pacific at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in a media unveiling event held

Mobility June 16, 2023

The South Korean government dismissed concerns over the domestic battery makers’ status in the European market after the European Parliament passed a sustainable battery law on Wednesday. “The law does not contain provisions that discriminately apply to certain companies or work against only Korean companies, so it is not expected that the implementation of the law will shake our companies' market status in the EU,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a stat

Industry June 15, 2023

South Korean business leaders on Wednesday reaffirmed their will to lead the global hydrogen economy and accelerate the hydrogen transformation in the country as they announced a set of initiatives to create and bolster the hydrogen ecosystem at the second general assembly of the Korea H2 Business Summit held in Seoul. The participants from the 17 members of the Korea H2 Business Summit, a corporate-led hydrogen alliance that kicked off in September 2021, underlined the country's transforma

Industry June 14, 2023

South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Company and its sister firm Kia have been facing a public backlash and multiple lawsuits in the United States as the number of vehicle thefts among certain models lacking immobilizers surged after videos of young men stealing the cars went viral on social media platforms last summer. Videos with the hashtags “Kia Boyz” or “Kia Boys” began trending on social media platforms, namely TikTok, across the country. They showed mostly teenage

Companies June 13, 2023

Genesis, a South Korean luxury auto brand under Hyundai Motor Group, has now upgraded the G70 with a stronger engine. The G70 is the brand’s last sports sedan powered by an internal combustion engine, as the automaker aims to go all-electric by 2030. The exterior and interior of the new Genesis G70 also appeared to undergo small design changes. The attention-grabbing front side of the vehicle features two-line light-emitting diode headlamps and a V-shaped crest grille. The lower front end

Mobility June 12, 2023

SKC가 인도네시아 최대 석유화학기업 찬드라아스리(Chandra Asri)와 손잡고 동남아서 친환경 소재사업 확장에 나선다. 8일 업계 관계자에 따르면 SKC의 친환경 소재사업 자회사인 에코밴스는 지난달 찬드라아스리와 생분해 소재 사업 업무협약을 체결했다. 양사는 에코밴스의 생분해 플라스틱 소재를 적용한 제품을 공동으로 개발하고 고객사도 함께 발굴한다는 계획이다. 향후 동남아시아의 폐플라스틱 문제 해결을 위해 추가 투자도 검토중인 것으로 알려졌다. SKC는 이차전지, 반도체 소재와 함께 친환경 화학소재를 3대 성장축으로 삼고 사업포트폴리오를 강화하고 있다. 그 일환으로 생분해소재(Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate, PBAT) 제품의 상업화를 위해 2021년 대상, LX인터내셔널과 함께 합작사 에코밴스를 설립했다. 당시 SKC는 1,040억원을 투입해 57.8%의 지분을 확보하고 대상과 LX인터내셔널이 각 400억원, 360억원을 출자하는 계획을 발표했었다

한국어판 June 8, 2023

SKC, the chemical unit of SK Group, has joined hands with Indonesia’s leading petrochemical producer, Chandra Asri, to expand its burgeoning eco-friendly materials business in Southeast Asia, according to an industry source familiar with the matter on Thursday. According to the source, Ecovance, a subsidiary of SKC, inked a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian firm on their business partnership last month. Under the agreement, the two companies plan to develop products using Eco

Industry June 8, 2023

Hyundai Motor Company will produce limited editions of its popular electric vehicle Ioniq 5 featuring designs of batik, a traditional Indonesian dyeing technique, according to Indonesia’s top envoy in Seoul on Wednesday. Gandi Sulistiyanto, Indonesian ambassador to South Korea, said Indonesia and Hyundai Motor will work together to create an Ioniq 5 embodying the batik design, a UNESCO cultural heritage that has inherited generations of Indonesian culture. According to UNESCO, batik is dye

Mobility June 7, 2023

LG Energy Solution has joined hands with Novonix, an Australian battery materials and technology firm, to strengthen the supply chain of a core battery material in North America, the South Korean battery maker said Wednesday. According to the announcement, LG Energy Solution signed a joint development agreement with Novonix to co-develop artificial graphite, a core anode material in making lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Novonix also agreed to issue $30 million worth of unsecured no

Industry June 7, 2023

Mercedes-AMG, the high-performance brand under German auto giant Mercedes-Benz, is well known for crafting luxurious motorsports-inspired vehicles with monstrous engines. And the brand has kept these signature traits for its EQ lineup, boasting the fastest acceleration among Mercedes EVs. Mercedes-Benz Korea hosted a media test drive at the AMG Speedway in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, last week. With a 4.3-kilometer circuit with 17 turns, the AMG Speedway is the world’s first track to bear t

Mobility June 7, 2023

South Korea’s maritime defense industry leaders, Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, are bracing to face off at the upcoming International Maritime Defense Industry Exhibition, or MADEX 2023, in Busan later this week. The biannual event will begin its three-day journey at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center on Wednesday. According to the floor plan, the exhibition booths of Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will be next to each other, located in the center of th

Industry June 5, 2023

Netmarble announced Thursday that it will launch three new titles in the second half of this year as the South Korean mobile game giant seeks a turnaround after five consecutive quarters of operating losses. The three games slated to be released in the upcoming months are Tower Of God: New World, Grand Cross: Age of Titans and Seven Knights Idle Adventure. “The three games we are introducing today each have an easy level of gameplay as well as immersive storylines that were fully created o

Technology June 1, 2023

진행자: 간형우, Naomi Garyan 1. [Weekender] Luxury labels target teens 기사 요약: 국내 10대 소비자들 대상으로 마케팅 강화하는 명품 브랜드와 이에 맞춰 명품 소비 늘리는 10대 고객들 [1] While it's not breaking news that luxury fashion houses have been broadening their customer bases to younger customers, teenagers have risen as a new lucrative target demographic for such brands. *broaden: 넓히다, 퍼지다 *lucrative: 수익성이 좋은, 돈이 되는 [2] More teenagers are purchasing high-end goods -- everything from lower-priced luxury beauty products and shoes to

Podcast June 1, 2023