A face-lifted Range Rover series was released in South Korea on Thursday, in a bid to keep the popularity of the British luxury SUV afloat. The new Range Rover Sport is the latest in the line in five years, equipped with all-round light-emitting diode headlights, a V6 supercharger engine and stone massage functions for both front and back seats. Kim Jung-yong, product manager at Jaguar Land Rover Korea, said the local importer and distributor of the British carmaker aims to sell 1,800 vehicles a

Amid growing speculation on US activist hedge fund Elliott Management’s move towards Hyundai Motor Group, the chief of the nation’s top financial regulator on Thursday urged stakeholders not to react “sensitively,” stressing this time seems different from the group’s previous battles with Samsung.“There’s no need to sensitively respond to Elliott’s move this time,” said Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, at a conference in Seoul.Referring to a series of legal battles in

A local unit of a US fast food chain McDonald’s donated 300 million won to build a temporary residence for families with children in hospital in the nation’s southeastern region.The donation was delivered as part of events to celebrate its 30th anniversary here. Out of profits made from selling Big Mac and Happy Meal sets, Joh Ju-yeon, managing director of McDonald’s Korea delivered the check to Jeffrey Jones, chairman of Ronald McDonald House Charities Korea, a non-profit organization aimed at

Steel slabs (Posco)POHANG, North Gyeongsang Province -- A red-hot steel slab weighing around 25-30 tons passes between giant rollers at Posco’s steel mill in the nation’s southeastern city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, producing not just sizzling heat and ear-piecing machine sounds, but also a grand sight. “Every two minutes and 30 seconds, a slab becomes a coil of steel plate with rollers pressing down and water filtering out impurities. In a year, we process 3.5 million tons of steel s

To drive another successful 50 years, South Korean steel giant Posco will seek new business opportunities in nonsteel sectors by investing in emerging technologies like lithium and biopharma, its chief said.At a meeting with Korean reporters Saturday on the occasion of the steel giant’s 50th anniversary, Posco Chairman Kwon Oh-joon said the company has recently “set a direction to commercialize biopharmaceutical studies.” The new undertaking will be based on researches carried out at Postech, a

The market on Thursday reacted quickly to Hyundai Motor Group’s governance reform scheme announced Wednesday, with the share prices of its affiliates subject to spinoffs and mergers going in opposite directions.Investors pulled more than 2 trillion won ($1.88 billion) off the market value of Hyundai Mobis on Thursday morning trade, less than a day after the group released a structural overhaul plan to spin off the parts maker’s more lucrative businesses and merge them with Hyundai Glovis. The sh

For Park Ji-young, a 45-year-old businesswoman in Seoul, watching the ongoing dispute over GM Korea’s restructuring scheme and the speculation of the carmaker’s complete departure from the country feels like a deja vu. “Similar cases jolted the country years ago with newspapers, politicians and the labor unions claiming the outflow of national wealth,” she said, referring to Lone Star, a Texas-based private equity fund, and its nine-year stint in Korea that entailed a plethora of legal issues an

The Seoul government’s midterm briefing on its renegotiation of a free trade deal Monday was met with mixed reactions here, with steelmakers heaving a sigh of relief while carmakers expressing concerns of losing its presence further to imported cars from US.The Trade Ministry said that South Korea agreed to open its auto market to the US in return for exempting the country from the US’ steel tariffs. Though excluded from the list of countries to be faced with the tariffs, South Korean steelmaker

The state-run Korea Development Bank chief Lee Dong-gull upped the pressure against resistant labor union in an emergency press conference on Monday, stating that the labor union has made a verbal agreement to the sale of the ailing tiremaker to China’s Doublestar last Friday. Accusing the labor union of failing to take follow-up measures, Lee said that the company would be forced into a workout unless a formal consensus is reached by the deadline of this Friday set by its creditors.Lee said tha

South Korean energy giant SK Innovation has signed an agreement to acquire a US oil and gas explorer to expand its overseas business, the company said Wednesday.The contract to acquire a 100 percent stake in Longfellow Nemaha will be delivered by its US subsidiary, SK E&P America, in the second quarter.Longfellow is a private oil and gas exploration and production company with assets located in Oklahoma, the company said in a statement. SK Innovation’s shale site in Oklahoma (SK Innovation)The a

Hyundai Motor will unveil a concept vehicle of an electrified Genesis at the New York International Auto Show that kicks off next week, the company said Sunday. The concept car will be a gran turismo designed to show off Genesis’ long-distance driving range on electric power.  Special edition of Genesis G90 unveiled in Los Angeles earlier this month (Hyundai Motor)Genesis, a luxury brand by the South Korean auto giant, plans to begin production of an electric sports coupe that can travel 500 kil

 LG Chem, the nation’s largest chemical company, will invest 3.8 trillion won this year, a 52 percent increase on-year, to accelerate its goal of reaching the world’s top five by 2025, the company said Sunday.The investment is being made to prepare each business for the “fourth industrial revolution,” increase competitiveness and explore new businesses, it said.LG Chem’s carbon nanotube plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province (LG Chem)The company plans to speed up its development of more high valu

South Korean cosmetic giant Amorepacific hosted a marathon in the southern port city of Busan to raise public awareness about breast cancer, with about 5,000 participating, the company Sunday. Participants of Pink Run, a marathon event held by Amorepacific, pass the starting line in Busan on Sunday. (Amorepacific)Titled “Pink Run,” Amorepacific has been holding marathons in five cities in South Korea. Funds raised during the events, by selling tickets, have been donated to the Korea Breast Cance

As with many other enthusiastic motorists around the world, a Porsche was a dream car for Michael Kirsch, managing director of the German luxury car’s subsidiary in South Korea.Recalling Porsche posters hanging on the wall of his room in the pre-internet era, the head of Porsche Korea said the passion he has for this brand has been with him since, calling the brand an irreplaceable symbol of “a true racing car.” The super luxury cars usually come with jaw-dropping prices, with entry models price

Four industrial companies -- Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Hyundai Steel, Daelim Industrial and Hyosung -- will be removed from a list of the top 150 businesses that enhance corporate transparency by the Korea Exchange, according to the nation’s sole securities exchange operator on Thursday.Based on the latest evaluation of listed companies on their efforts in enhancing corporate transparency in environmental, social and corporate governance, the four firms will be excluded as of March 2

The incumbent chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry was unanimously re-elected as the head of the organization representing the interests of businesses here on Thursday.Accepting the chairman post, Park Yong-maan said he would turn the KCCI into a private think tank to better provide policy suggestions on industries, economy and labor. Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan (KCCI)“The KCCI will make full-pledged efforts to provide ideas on policy altern

Hyundai Motor received a total of 733 preorders on the first day of opening for its Nexo, the automaker’s latest sport utility vehicle powered by fuel cells, the company said Tuesday.The number of preorders is three times more the number of vehicles subject to the government’s subsidy, reflecting its popularity, officials said.  Hyundai Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun (right) poses with Chris Urmson, CEO of Aurora, at a press conference held to unveil Nexo on sidelines of Consumer Electronics Show i

Kia Motors, sister company to South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor, has started preorders of all new K9, the largest model of its signature K-series here, with an aim to sell 20,000 units a year, the company said Tuesday.At a media session held to unveil the all new K9, the carmaker’s vice president Kwon Hyuk-soo said it also plans to sell the luxury sedan overseas in the second half, setting the sales target at 6,000 a year.A K9 sedan displayed at Salon de K9 in Seoul (Kia Motors)Calling it th

Korea Midland Power, an electricity provider based in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, is seeking to enter markets abroad, following a series of successful projects in Southeast Asia, the company announced Monday.An affiliate of state-run power provider Korea Electric Power Corp., Komipo finished construction of a coal power plant on the island of Java, Indonesia, last year as part of a trilateral venture. The Korean company holds a 27.5 percent stake, with Japan’s largest trading company M

The accumulated sales of Sportage, a 25-year-old sport utility vehicle from Kia Motors, has surpassed 5 million units, the company said Monday. The sister company to South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor has sold a total of 5,003,537 of the midsized SUV around the world since its market debut in 1993. Of the total, more than 13 percent, or 684,186, units were sold on the domestic market, while the rest were either manufactured at the company’s overseas plant or shipped to foreign markets. Sporta