Fiat Chrysler Korea announced Wednesday that it has appointed Jake Aumann as its new president and managing director. Aumann served as managing director of the automaker’s China branch for the past two years, successfully leading Alfa Romeo, a subsidiary auto brand, the company said. The new president will start his duties Monday. Since joining FCA Group in 1999, Aumann gained work experience in various sectors in the company, including administration, change management, marketing, sal

Although indispensable in many peoples’ everyday lives, it is uncommon for a plastic bag producer to receive a nationwide attention. But when the country geared up for a national general election in April, Cleanwrap, a leading food packaging company, came into the spotlight as it supplied tens of millions of sanitary gloves to help execute the world’s first legislative election in the coronavirus era possible. To assist in the government’s strict prevention efforts, Cleanwra

Consumers would face higher shopping cart prices this week, due to spikes in wholesale prices of various kinds of produce during the prolonged rainfall over weeks, according to the retail industry on Sunday. The unexpectedly prolonged rainfall is taking a toll on many of the country’s farm villages, which have damaged their crops and cut supplies, leading to spikes in agricultural prices. According to the data from Korea Agro-Fisheries&Food Trade, leafy vegetables such as cabbage,

Dongwon F&B, the South Korean distributor of the US plant-based meat alternative Beyond Meat, said Thursday that it has launched the product at E-mart, the country’s largest supermarket chain by revenue. The company signed an exclusive contract in 2018 to import Beyond Meat from the US to Korea. After launching the flagship Beyond Burger in March 2019, it sold about 82,000 patties here last year, Dongwon F&B said. The company said it is offering Beyond Burger at the 21 E-mart

Myung Won Cultural Foundation said Wednesday it is holding its world tea festival this week, during which it will also celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Kim Mi-hee, who pioneered the restoration of Korea’s tea culture. According to the foundation, the 25th tea festival, dubbed “K-Tea Festival,” will be held at Coex in southern Seoul for four days, starting Thursday. The event will comprise of a photo exhibition commemorating the birth of Kim, and booths where particip

Amorepacific, a South Korean cosmetics giant, said Wednesday it launched two of its flagship brands, Amorepacific and Mamonde in US Amazon, as part of its efforts to expand presence in the US. ”It is an honor to present Amorepacific’s flagship brands to customers of the US Amazon,” an Amorepacific Group official said. “As online shopping is growing globally, we will continue for sturdy growth in the digital sector with Amorepacific and Mamonde.” Amorepacific s

While pickup trucks have not been a major segment in South Korea’s automobile market, SsangYong Motor’s Rexton truck is something of an exception, with competitive pricing, convenient functions and designs attractive enough to change the minds of sedan-lovers. Rolling out Rexton Sports in 2018, the country’s first open-deck sports utility vehicle, SsangYong has taken 97 percent of the local market share, selling over 40,000 units of the car in first and second year of release

Daewoo Engineering and Construction said Friday it is launching a new commercial facility brand “arcloud,” and open its first shopping center in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, under that name. The construction company said the brand name combines the words ‘arc” and “cloud,” carrying the meaning of connecting people and cultural content. The first arcloud complex, which is a two-story building with one basement floor, will be opened in Gam-il district in Hanam,

BMW Motorrad said Friday it is opening the preorders for new R 18 cruiser in South Korea, before the official launch in September. According to the company, the new R 18 model, which has been inspired by the R 5 model that was released in 1936, is a cruiser bike equipped with the strongest boxer engine the company has ever made. The 1,802 cc two-cylinder boxer engine delivers a maximum torque of 158 newton-meters at 3,000 rpm. At 4,750 rpm, the Big Boxer delivers 91 horsepower, the company s

Booyoung Group said Thursday that it was entering the housing market in Cambodia for the first time and developing Borey Booyoung Sensok in Phnom Penh, the nation’s capital. According to the group, its local headquarters there, Booyoung Khmer Co., is developing the residential area in the capital’s Sensok district for 716 households. The company said it opened its sales office Wednesday and that construction is expected to finish in December 2021. Borey Booyoung Sensok will hav

Retail sales edged up 3.7 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, with the growth towed by e-commerce companies, government data revealed Thursday. According to the Ministry of Trade Industry and Energy, total sales in the retail industry recorded 66.79 trillion won ($55.9 billion) on-year, up 3.7 percent. The growth rate appears to have slowed compared to previous years, as sales increased by 7.5 percent in 2018 and 5.6 percent in 2019. For the report,

Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association on Wednesday suspended its Chairman Pablo Rosso after he was accused of sexual harassment and assault. Earlier on Friday, the president of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Korea was suspended from his company after the allegations were brought up on the presidential petition site on July 22. The association, which represents importers and distributors of automobiles, said it held an emergency board meeting Tuesday to vote on suspending Rosso,

The global carmaker Volvo is rejuvenating its brand image in South Korea via successful collaborations with popular dramas and variety shows. In the currently airing tvN drama “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” starring Seo Ye-ji and Kim Soo-hyun, Volvo’s premium sports utility vehicle XC90 and S90, a mid-sized luxury sedan, are heavily featured, gliding along the coastal roads of Goseong, Gangwon Province. The Volvo cars have also stood out on other TV programs, with popula

South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco vowed to strengthen efforts to contribute to society on Tuesday as it announced the Corporate Citizenship Management Standards, a guideline for its employees in pursuing its principles of corporate citizenship. Posco said it held a strategic conference for the first half of 2020, during which CEO Choi Jeong-woo went over the performance on this front in the past two years. Addressing the difficult industry situations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ch

Daewoo Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it is entering the electric vehicle charging infrastructure industry by investing in Humax EV. The construction company said it has decided to purchase a 19.9 percent stake in the firm that specializes in the segment, as part of its Build Together Startups Program, designed to make investments in future promising firms to expand into new business sectors. Daewoo E&C has established a department for new business sectors, and invested in ast

INJE, Gangwon Province -- There are no remarkable changes to the exterior, but the revamped version of the Renault Samsung Motors flagship midsized sedan SM6 does appear to have been “reborn with a new heart,” as the automaker describes it. Ambitiously presenting the face-lifted model of the SM6 last week, Renault Samsung Motors invited reporters to the Inje Speedium, a 3.91-kilometer circuit in Gangwon Province, on July 16 to test-drive the car on the track and nearby winding roa

Amid an overall slump in the retail industry in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, retailer chain Homplus is speeding up its asset securitization plan to sell physical stores in order to secure liquidity. On Friday, Hompeplus said it has decided to securitize a store branch in Daejeon, one week after the retailer announced plans to sell another branch in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The company’s move comes after it recorded the net loss of 532.2 billion won ($442.8 million) during the pe

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said Thursday that the number of its delivery workers has doubled in the last seven months to surpass 10,000. Coupang said its direct employment system is attractive to workers as it offers different benefits than other delivery service companies, allowing employees to work just five days a week and keeping the hours below 52 per week. The company also provides employment insurance and 15 days of annual leave, as stated in the law. The company also pays

Korean food and chemical company Samyang Corp. said Thursday its food brand Trusweet Allulose obtained kosher certification from Orthodox Union. Samyang said it has worked to be verified as kosher, which confirms that the ingredients meets the dietary standards of traditional Jewish law, as part of its effort to present the product to the global kosher market valued at $250 billion.  Trusweet Allulose was also certified halal by the Korea Muslim Federation in February, the company added.

Art has always been “in the DNA” of Absolut, one of the best-known spirits brands in the world. To promote contemporary art and support artists around the world, the vodka brand has taken part in numerous collaborative projects, including its famous work with Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. This time, Pernod Ricard Korea, which represents the vodka in South Korea, has taken a step further with its iconic brand by connecting technology and art in an effort to tackle air pollution, wh