Performance aided by emphasis on product-quality than mass production Hyundai Motor reported a record performance on the back of improved profitability despite sluggish sales at home. The nation’s largest carmaker said Thursday that it posted 2.28 trillion won ($2.02 billion) in operating profit during the first quarter of 2012, up 24.9 percent from the same period last year. This marked all-t...

BEIJING ― The SM sedan series of Renault Samsung Motors is expected to play a significant role in the its parent Renault Group’s project to expand its presence in China. Renault Samsung chief executive Francois Provost stressed that the consumer preferences of the Chinese are quite similar to those of Koreans. His remarks came right after France-based Renault Group unveiled the Talisman, a luxu...

Renault to produce some models in world’s largest automobile market BEIJING ― Global carmakers including Korean players are competing to increase their market share in China, the world’s largest automobile market. In the past several years, China has overtaken the Untied States in vehicle sales per annum. While General Motors and Volkswagen had dominated the Chinese market, Hyundai Motor has c...

At home, automaker pinning hopes on electric vehicles to offset sluggish sales Renault Samsung Motors is seemingly prioritizing overseas markets over sales at home as consumption in Korea sags and the Chinese market enjoys rapid growth. During the first quarter of 2012, Renault Samsung posted exports of 27,505 units, 64 percent of its total sales of 42,939 units. Between 2000, when France’s Re...

French automaker Citroen resumed sales in the local market on Thursday after a decade-long hiatus. The company under the wing of PSA Peugeot-Citroen unveiled the DS3, a premium hatchback, in Seoul on Thursday. Hanbul Motors Corp. will take on imports of the French cars. Citroen aims to sell up to 2,500 cars per annum in Korea, Eric Dumondelle, chief of the company’s Asia Pacific division told T...

Hyundai Motor Co., Korea’s No. 1 carmaker, has launched the third-generation Santa Fe in the local market. During an unveiling event in Incheon on Thursday, the company said it aims to sell 42,000 units of the New Santa Fe at home and 110,000 units in the overseas market this year. The automaker has also set the sales target of 385,000 units for next year ― 50,000 for domestic and 335,000 for o...

CEO Kim says May show will focus on low-emission vehicles The Busan Exhibition & Convention Center is striving to upgrade the Busan Motor Show through this year’s event, which may be the largest ever. The Busan International Motor Show 2012 is projected to mark “58 percent growth” compared to the previous event in 2010, BEXCO president & CEO Kim Soo-ik told a press conference in Seoul on Wednes...

U.S. auto-safety regulators upgraded their inquiry into Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s 7 Series cars that may roll away when parked as they probe transmission defects in an electronic access and ignition system. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday on its website that it’s intensifying an investigation it opened in August of about 120,000 vehicles to an engineering...

Toyota-Lexus may overtake Volkswagen, Audi to become Korea’s third-largest car importer Lexus, the premium brand of Toyota Motor, has launched all-out efforts to regain its once-high share in Korea’s import automobile market. Though Lexus was vying for the No. 1 spot in the import car industry with BMW seven or eight years ago, it yielded its position to other competitors in the wake of the rec...