[THE INVESTOR] The operating margin of South Korea’s automotive industry stood at a meager 5 percent last year, an industry study showed Aug. 17. The study by the Korea 20000 Corporate Research Institute analyzed 1,079 companies, including auto and auto parts manufacturers and vendors, both public and private. Combined sales of 1,079 firms posted 234.8 trillion won (US$212.2 billion) in 2015. Their operating profit came to 12.18 trillion won, accounting for 5.2 percent of their sales.  South Kor

[THE INVESTOR] The head of Kia Motors on Aug. 17 said it will take a while for Korea’s second-largest automaker to build an auto plant in India. “It won’t be that easy,” Park Han-woo, president of Kia Motors, told reporters after a breakfast meeting in Seoul with the trade minister and heads of other carmakers. “It will take some time because there isn’t a proper site or (the necessary) people in India yet.” Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo visits Hyundai Motor’s India plant in Chenna

[THE INVESTOR] Coway, an embattled Korean water purifier-maker, is caught up in a new row after some consumers claimed metal powder was discovered again inside the company’s other products, local news reported Aug. 16. According to cable news network YTN, some metal coating was found in dispensed water in Coway’s water purifier model CHPI-08BL. The customers thought it was a cleaning problem, so they requested after-sales service to get their products cleaned. But the same problem existed after

[THE INVESTOR] Ssangyong Motor CEO Choi Johng-shik said the automaker aims to bounce back into profit this year, reversing nine consecutive loss-making years.“Thanks to the executives and staff members’ endeavors and determination, we returned to profit in the first half of the year for the first time in nine years,” Choi told the company’s 200 senior managers gathered at an event called “Leaders Round Table” on Aug. 12.  Choi Johng-sik, CEO of Ssangyong Motor, speaks at the “Leaders Round Table

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean prosecutors will summon Thomas Kuehl, the CEO of Volkswagen Korea, on Aug. 18 for questioning over his involvement in the automaker’s emissions-rigging scandal. The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office on Aug. 16 said it plans to grill Kuehl, who has been in charge of importing and selling Volkswagen vehicles here as head of the Korean unit since Sept. 2013. The investigators suspect Kuehl took part in selling the seventh-generation Golf 1.4 TSI while aware that it fell

[THE INVESTOR] GM Korea, the Korean unit of General Motors, plans to launch the Chevrolet Camaro SS sports car in September, the automaker said Aug. 16. The Camaro SS -- the same model that starred as Bumblebee in the 2014 movie “Transformers: Age of Extinction” -- boasts a powerful engine and impressive interior and exterior design. Some 700 preorders for the muscle car were made at the latest Busan Motor Show in June.  Chevrolet Camaro SS in flaming red. GM KoreaThe newest Camaro uses a 6.2-li

[THE INVESTOR] Inside a sprawling three-story Volkswagen showroom in the affluent Gangnam area of Seoul, just two cars - the CC 2.0 TSI and Touareg - were on display. These are the only two cars that were permitted to be sold here following a government sales ban and decertification move that affected a wide array of Volkswagen cars. “We hardly have visitors these days,” one salesman at the dealership said, declining to be identified. “For now, these are the only cars we can sell,” he said, poin

[THE INVESTOR] Sales of imported diesel cars plummeted by 42.2 percent in July compared to the same month last year, hit by Volkswagen’s emission-rigging scandal, industry figures showed on Aug. 4.According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, a total of 8,286 units of diesel engine cars were sold in July, compared to 14,325 units a year earlier.  BMW’s 520d. Their market share went down from 69.2 percent to 52.7 percent of all imported cars. The fall was led

[THE INVESTOR] Korean owners of Volkswagen vehicles will be filing a damage claim against Audi Volkswagen Korea, the carmaker’s Korean unit, for the lost resale value of their cars due to the VW emission-rigging scandal, local news reported on Aug. 4. “We are gathering car owners who suffered a price loss as a result of the ministry’s latest decision to nullify registration and ban sales of VW cars. We will register a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office as early as next

[THE INVESTOR] Volkswagen’s July sales in South Korea tumbled by 85.8 percent from a year earlier, as consumers turned away from the German automaker that cheated on emissions and noise level tests, industry data showed on Aug. 4. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, only 425 VW cars were sold here in July, a downturn from 2,998 units in the same month last year. The figure is a 76.8 percent decline from June this year. With the drop, VW barely made

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s car exports declined 13.5 percent in the first half of the year, dragged down by a slowdown in emerging markets, industry data showed on Aug. 3. According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, five major automakers -- Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, Renault Samsung, Ssangyong Motor and GM Korea -- shipped 1.33 million units from January to June, in comparison to 1.54 million units in the same period last year. The overall exports value tumbled to US$19.01 bi

[THE INVESTOR] Over 3,000 Audi and Volkswagen cars that are imported from Germany to South Korea will have to head back immediately upon arrival.  Volkswagen cars are parked at the carmaker's warehouse near the Pyeongtaek Port.A total of five vessels carrying a month’s supply of cars had left Germany between end-June to mid-July, before the South Korean government officially banned sales of the VW vehicles, an official from Audi Volkswagen Korea was quoted as saying by a local news outlet. The f

[THE INVESTOR] Audi Volkswagen Korea on Aug. 2 apologized to the South Korean customers for its emission-rigging scandal, promising to win back customer trust. The Korean unit of the German automaker also said it will come up with countermeasures against the government’s punitive steps. Audi Volkswagen Korea managing director Johannes Thammer (right) and Volkswagen Korea chief Thomas Kuehl attend a parliamentary hearing in October last year. The Investor“We deeply apologize to everyone for causi

[THE INVESTOR] On Aug. 2, the South Korean government suspended the sales and revoked the certification of 80 vehicle models sold by Audi Volkswagen Korea for manipulating documents to cheat on official emissions and noise level tests.  Below is the full list of penalized vehicles.  Volkswagen Tiguan   Bentley Continental GT V8

[THE INVESTOR] The Ministry of Environment on Aug. 2 suspended sales of 80 vehicle models sold by Audi Volkswagen Korea and fined it 17.8 billion won (US$16.01 million) for manipulating documents with an intention to cheat on the government’s emissions or noise level tests. The ministry said it has revoked certification -- which ultimately leads to a sales ban -- on 83,000 units of Volkswagen, Audi and Bentley vehicles that were sold here between 2009 to July 25. The affected models include some

[THE INVESTOR] An arrest warrant for Renault Samsung Motor CEO Park Dong-hoon, former chief of Volkswagen Korea, was rejected by the court on Aug. 1. The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the request, saying that it does not see the necessity of the warrant after having reviewed the case so far. Also, it believes that an arrest warrant at the moment can violate the suspects’ right to defend himself. Renault Samsung Motor CEO Park Dong-hoon, former chief of Volkswagen Korea, appears to the p

[THE INVESTOR] Domestic sales of South Korea’s five main automakers fell by 10.58 percent in July from a year earlier, hit hard by the termination of the tax cut on car purchases, according to data released individually by the vehicle manufacturers on Aug. 1. The combined local sales of Korea-based automakers -- Hyundai Motor ,  Kia Motors, GM Korea, Renault Samsung and Ssangyong Motor  -- came to 121,144 units in July, in comparison to 135,471 units from the same month last year. The figure als

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Wia, the automotive parts unit of Hyundai Motor Group, is struggling to improve profits, hit hard by a slump in the all-important Chinese market. In its recent earnings report on July 27, the company reported its second-quarter operating profit of 90.79 billion won (US$81.86 million), a 31.6 percent plunge from a year earlier. Hyundai Wia headquarters in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.Sales fell 2.7 percent to 1.94 trillion won, while net profit dropped 51 percent to

[THE INVESTOR] Ssangyong Motor on Aug. 1 said its July sales grew by 8.2 percent from a year earlier, aided by rising exports of Tivoli sport utility vehicle that offset decrease in domestic sales. The Korean unit of Indian auto giant Mahindra & Mahindra sold 12,784 units in July, in comparison to 11,814 units from the same month last year. Ssangyong Motor Tivoli AirDomestic sales decreased 8.1 percent on-year to 7,546, which also reflected a 22.6 percent decline from June. The downturn is attri

[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors, South Korea’s second-largest carmaker, said it posted second-quarter operating profit of 770.9 billion won (US$679.20 million), up 18.5 percent from the same period last year. From the first quarter of 2016, operating profit rose 21.7 percent, the carmaker said in a regulatory filing on July 27.By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)