Posco said Friday that it has kicked off construction of a new 1 trillion won ($804 million) electrical steel manufacturing plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, in response to growing demand for the eco-friendly steel in vehicles and home appliances.  The steel giant said based on its 40-year expertise in producing electrical steels, the new plant will be producing 300,000 tons of high-efficient, non-oriented electrical steels annually, which are used as core materials in rotating ma

Just like smartphones or any other tech devices, vehicles also receive software for new versions from their manufacturers via OTA -- Over The Air -- updates. Software updates are a significant part of the connected car experience because they include the latest feature enhancements, such as autonomous driving, as well as crucial security patches. Tesla has been offering OTA updates to all its cars since 2012. Rivals such as Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have also been quickly penetrating

Ahn Cheol-soo, the chief of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team, and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun met on Friday to discuss the country’s future mobility outlook as well as measures for nurturing and expanding the industry’s workforce. Ahn and other committee member lawmakers visited Hyundai Motor Group’s R&D center in Namyang, Gyeonggi Province.  “A future mobility industry is the next focus of the country’s strategic busin

Posco Chemical, a chemical and battery materials producer under steel giant Posco Group, said Thursday that it had kicked off construction for a new plant that can produce 30,000 metric tons of high-purity nickel cathodes, a key material used in electric vehicle batteries. Targeting to begin operations in 2024, the new factory will be established on over 120,000 square meters of land in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, with an annual production capacity at 30,000 tons.  The firm, which

Chemical-to-financial conglomerate KG Group has jumped into what has become a fierce bidding war for SsangYong Motor, the debt-ridden carmaker owned by India’s Mahindra Group, in a 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) deal.  According to industry insiders Thursday, KG Group recently submitted its letter of intent to acquire SsangYong Motor to the lead manager of the deal, EY Hanyoung. KG Group was founded in 2003 based on the country’s first fertilizer company Gyeonggi Chemical, w

Starting in September, passengers departing from Incheon International Airport won’t need to take out their laptops or liquid items from their carry-on bags.  According to Incheon International Airport on Wednesday, it will adopt a smart security screening system to shorten the entire departure process by applying advanced technology which will automatically detect prohibited liquids and hazardous items including weapons, radioactive materials and certain types of lithium batteries.

The annual International Electric Vehicle Expo -- the largest exhibition on electric vehicles in the world -- will kick off next month, bringing industry experts and visitors from around the world to South Korea’s resort island of Jeju. Some 200 companies in the e-mobility sector are to participate in the exhibition, which kicks off on May 3 for a four-day run, according to the organizer. The list of participants includes Tesla and Volvo as exhibitors for the first time. A virtual exhibi

South Korea’s aviation industry is gearing up for a full recovery of operations that were hit hard from the prolonged pandemic for more than two years as the flights resume along long-stalled mid- and long-haul routes.  The Transport Ministry aims to increase the number of international flights this year to the 50 percent level of 2019. As of March, the number of international flights departing the country was at 406 per week, around 8.8 percent of the corresponding figure in 2019 w

Ssangbangwool Group, best known for its underwear business, is joining an estimated 1 trillion won ($819 million) bidding war to acquire debt-ridden carmaker SsangYong Motor whose takeover deal with Edison Motors has recently been called off.  Ssangbangwool, or SBW, plans to turn in a letter of intent this week to the lead manager of the deal, EY Hanyoung, by forming a consortium led by subsidiary Kanglim, a maker of special-purpose vehicles like firetrucks and cranes.  Other than Ka

South Korean trading firm Posco International said Thursday that it has completed an acquisition of Australian energy company Senex Energy, as part of its effort to put more focus in eco-friendly energy businesses.  The Korean firm clinched a deal in December last year with Senex Energy to own 50.1 percent of shares of the Australian company at 405 billion won ($334 million). It took three months to receive authorities’ approval. The latest acquisition marks the company’s fir

South Korean construction management firm Hanmi Global said Wednesday that it has won an order from SK Nexilis to manage the copper foil making unit of SKC Group’s new plant in Poland that has an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons.  Located in an industrial complex in Stalowa Wola, southeastern Poland, the plant will start mass production of copper foils – a key material for anode of electric vehicle batteries – from as early as 2014.  Under the deal, Hanmi

Hyundai Glovis, a logistics arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday that it has established a firefighting plan for vehicles that are transported on cargo ships, a customized system to prevent risk of fire caught on electric vehicles on board a vessel. According to the company, it will place special equipment such as fire cover and water mist nozzle at all of its car-carrying ships. By putting this specially-coated cloth on a vehicle caught fire, the flow of oxygen will instantly stop and

Posco said Tuesday it has launched a new committee to act as a control tower that supervises carbon neutrality efforts across affiliates and makes timely decisions under its goal of going carbon neutral by 2050. “Posco requires a prompt decision-making process to proactively respond to global needs for carbon neutrality efforts, as well as to accelerate our production system based on carbon neutrality goals by 2050,” said Posco Vice Chairman Kim Hag-dong, who leads the new committe

South Korean mid-sized automaker Edison Motors’ proposed acquisition of SsangYong Motor has been cancelled due to payment failure, putting the debt-laden SUV maker’s journey to search for new owner back to starting line. 　 According to SsangYong Motor on Monday, its acquisition contract with a consortium led by Edison Motors was terminated after the buyer failed to pay 274.3 billion won ($223.7 million) by March 25, the deadline date designated by the Seoul Bankruptcy Court to pay

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that its flagship electric vehicle Ioniq 5 has ranked top in German automotive magazine Auto Bild’s EV test, beating other European rivals such as Audi Q4 e-tron and Polestar 2. In the latest edition of Auto Bild, the vehicles were tested and evaluated based on seven categories including performance of powertrain, driving comfort, connectivity, eco-friendliness and price competitiveness.  Ioniq 5 ranked top in four categories with a total of 573

Despite COVID-19’s lingering impact on the South Korean economy, the country saw a 4 percent growth last year, exhibiting a moderate performance on the back of strong exports and rebound of the global economy. But mom-and-pop businesses, mostly those in the food and beverage industry, have been severely hit by repeated rounds of restrictions on business hours. The pandemic has forced restaurants here to close by 9 p.m. each day under a business curfew, which was introduced to blunt a re

The South Korean government on Friday lifted an overseas travel ban on GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem, almost 16 months after the Australian GM executive was barred from leaving the country on charges of illegally outsourcing labor. Kazen is currently standing trial for violating labor laws after the carmaker was found to have hired some 1,719 workers from 24 subcontractors to work at its local plants between September 2017 and December 2020. The Seoul headquarters is suspected to have directly inst

Posco Holdings said Thursday that construction of a plant in Argentina kicked off to commercialize lithium, a key material for electric vehicle battery production.  With the lithium extraction plant in Argentina and Posco’s mining rights in the South American country, the company will be able to entirely manage production of lithium hydroxide, which is used in the production of cathode material for lithium-ion EV batteries. Lithium is extracted from brine or seawater, which is rich

The race to come out on top in the future mobility sector is reaching a fever pitch. Market estimates show there are at least 200 global carmakers, aircraft manufacturers, telecommunication firms and startups working on developing urban air mobility (UAM) or flying cars. And Korean companies are no exception. Hanwha Systems, the country’s major defense electronics and related smart technologies and infrastructure service provider, is seeking to pivot its airspace business to target the g

After the Ministry of SMEs and Startups greenlighted the large automotive companies’ entry to the secondhand car market, carmakers here have been quick to announce their plans to launch secondhand services within the year.  Their entry could bring huge change to the used car market here, which has been protected by the government until recently for microenterprises. Lotte Rental, which operates a rent-a-car business, announced Friday that it would also enter the used car market in