[THE INVESTOR] GE Capital has completed the sale of its remaining 20 percent stake in Hyundai Capital Services, Hyundai Motor Group confirmed in a regulatory filing on Oct. 17. GE Capital sold its stake to two special purpose entities set up solely for the purchase, Hyundai Motor said. According to sources, the transaction is valued at approximately 600 billion won (US$529.43 million). GE Capital also confirmed its exit and reaffirmed its restructuring strategy to focus on large industrial produ

[THE INVESTOR] GM Korea, the Korean unit of General Motors, on Oct. 17 unveiled the new Trax that comes with an upgraded design and cheaper price tag, hoping to win customers over rivals in the burgeoning compact crossover market. “We are confident that the Chevrolet Trax, equipped with new design, safety features and specifications, can strongly appeal to the customers,” James Kim, CEO of GM Korea said at the media event in southern Seoul. “The compact SUV segment, which Trax is included in, wi

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor has sacked its domestic sales chief amid a prolonged sales slump for months on its home turf. The Korean auto giant replaced Kwak Jin, executive vice president overseeing the domestic sales divison, with Lee Kwang-guk, who was previously head of the Hyundai Motor Washington Office. Kwak has been appointed as an advisor, dropping out from the management role. Lee, 53, graduated from Yonsei University with a business degree and entered Hyundai Motor. He held various ke

[THE INVESTOR] Renault Samsung Motors on Oct. 13 said it has reached a final agreement with the automaker’s union that promised a pay increase, bonuses and other incentives.About 57.3 percent of 2,341 union members voted in favor of the tentative wage deal reached earlier by the union leaders and the management. The agreement came after the deal was voted down twice in September after rounds of negotiations that began in July. It also marks the second consecutive year of strikeless wage deal, th

[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors on Oct. 13 said the automaker has not yet decided on the final location of its planned auto plant in India, denying a news report claiming New Delhi is the designated site for the new facility. “We are still looking at possible sites in India,” a spokesperson from Kia Motors said. “A final decision has not been made.” The remark comes after a local news outlet reported that South Korea’s second largest automaker has decided on New Delhi for its first facility in India,

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor  and its sister firm Kia Motors are extending warranties for cars running on faulty engines in South Korea, offering the same US warranty program for local customers. The decision comes after the Korean auto giant came under fire for agreeing to compensate US customers only. Hyundai will extend warranties for customers who bought Hyundai and Kia cars fitted with a 2-liter or 2.4-liter Theta II GDi engine from five years with 100,000 kilometers, to 10 years with 190,0

[THE INVESTOR] HMC Investment and Securities on Oct. 12 predicted Kia Motors will post third-quarter operating profit of 5.16 trillion won (US$4.59 billion), down 33 percent on-year. The brokerage, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, estimated Kia’s sales to drop 13 percent on-year to 12.56 trillion won (US$11.17 billion). The operating profit stands far below the market consensus of 6.37 trillion won. “The decline is due to the termination of the tax cut on new car purchases that reduced domes

[THE INVESTOR]  HMC Investment Securities on Oct. 11 projected Hyundai Motor’s third quarter earnings will be far below the market consensus. The brokerage, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, forecast South Korea’s largest automaker will post 22.17 trillion won (US$19.80 billion) in sales and 1.12 trillion won in operating profit, down 6.0 percent and 25.3 percent on-year, respectively. HMC’s estimate is far lower than a previous market consensus of 1.47 trillion won in operating profit. “Hyun

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor Group will purchase the remaining 20 percent stake in Hyundai Capital Services held by GE Capital, taking sole control of its financial services arm. “Hyundai Motor is in the process of purchasing the shares,” a Hyundai Motor spokesperson said. According to industry sources, Hyundai Motor and GE Capital plan to sign the buyout deal on Oct. 17. The transaction is valued at approximately 600 billion won (US$536.92 million). The auto conglomerate plans to establish a sp

[THE INVESTOR]  Hyundai Motor's domestic production has declined rapidly in recent years, falling to around 30 percent of all cars produced by the automaker. According to data released by the carmaker's labor union last week, production at its domestic plants which once peaked at 65 percent in 2007, has been falling since, with its overseas plants taking a bigger share. An assembly line at Hyundai Motor's Alabama plant.In 2010, 1.74 million units, or 48.1 percent of its entire car production of

[THE INVESTOR] The market value of Hyundai Motor has slid two notches to the fifth spot among all listed firms here, amid ongoing labor strike that incurred billions of dollars in lost production and a weak earnings forecast. South Korea’s largest automaker posted a market cap of 30.67 trillion won (US$27.56 billion) based on closing value on Oct. 7, dropping from the previous third rank. Tech giant Samsung Electronics took the unmatched top spot with 241.68 trillion won, followed by a distant r

[THE INVESTOR] It will be a long journey for Hyundai Motor to take a lead in hydrogen-powered vehicles due to a lack of infrastructure and progress by Japanese competitors, industry watchers said. Hyundai Motor appears to be betting on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for its next-generation of cars, believing it will ultimately replace electric cars. In 2013, Hyundai, for the first time in the world, mass-produced the Tucson ix FCEV, which runs up to 415 kilometers on a single charge, and plans to u

[THE INVESTOR] 　The number of automobiles manufactured in South Korea last month dropped to the lowest in 11 years due to increased overseas production, declining domestic demand, and a series of strikes at local automakers, a government report showed on Oct. 9.  In September, a total of 258,026 automobiles were made in Korea, which is a 22.7 percent drop on-year, and the lowest output posted for the month of September since 2005, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.　During t

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said over the weekend there is “more room” to use monetary policy at the central bank and partly admitted that lower interest rates led to a rise in household debt.　His comments came as the Bank of Korea is to decide its key rate on Thursday this week amid weak exports, slow manufacturing production and growing household debt.　Although Yoo said he was “not in a position” to say if a lower rate is necessary, “theoretically there is room to u

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea may be in a leadership position in the global market for 5G broadband, Nokia’s Asia Pacific and Japan head said last week.  　Korea aims to be the first to unveil the next-generation network 5G -- which can deliver data 1,000 times faster than long-term evolution -- in time for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. 　The successful launch of the technology, being developed by local telecom operators in partnership with Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Ericsson and NEC, is cri

[THE INVESTOR]  The South Korean economy has a degree of policy space to tackle and contain domestic risks and geopolitical shocks, senior officials from global ratings agencies told Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho. Yoo, who is on a US trip to attend the conferences of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, held separate meetings with senior officials from Moody‘s, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch on Oct. 8 in Washington. During the meetings, officials from the ratings agencies told Yoo tha

[THE INVESTOR] The South Korean economy has been recovering at a slow pace in recent months, deterred by faltering exports and sluggish industrial output despite a rise in private consumption, a state-run think thank said on Oct. 9. “Korea’s domestic demand sustained moderate growth led by construction investment, but overall recovery has been slow on weak exports and manufacturing production,” the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly report of the country’s economic conditions. Consu

[THE INVESTOR] A delegation of World Bank recruitment officials will visit South Korea next month to seek more Korean professionals to its workforce, according to the bank on Oct. 9. 　The delegation, led by Sean McGrath, the World Bank’s vice president of human resources, will hold a job fair at a university in Seoul during the five-day visit starting Nov. 14.　The World Bank is said to be looking to hire about 7 Korean professionals during the fair. 　A total of 94 Koreans are working at the Worl

[THE INVESTOR]Samsung Electronics is running an educational zone at a museum in Poland where visitors can understand how the company’s quantum dot display technology functions, according to the company on Oct. 9. 　In partnership with the Copernicus Science Center in Poland, the exhibition “outlines the technical details of how Samsung’s latest SUHD (super ultrahigh-definition) series television sets function, and how the human eye perceives the images they display,” Samsung said in a statement. 

[THE INVESTOR] Local brokerage firms have raised their forecasts of Samsung Electronics' operating profit to exceed 30 trillion won ($26.88 billion) this year after the tech giant announced a better-than-expected earnings guidance for the third quarter, according to brokerages on Oct. 9. Despite a damaging recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, Samsung said on Oct. 7 that it expects to report a 5.5 percent rise in its third quarter operating profit to stand at 7.8 trillion won. Revenue, however