Han Sang-yun, new CEO of BMW MalaysiaHan Sang-yun, head of sales at BMW Korea, will lead BMW Malaysia as the new managing director and CEO from January 2016, according to BMW AG on Friday. Han is the first Korean CEO to lead an overseas branch of the German luxury carmaker except the Korean market. The new head of BMW Malaysia has more than 20 years of work experience in different sectors of the auto industry from sales to marketing and product management and will be able to apply his experience

Against the backdrop of the emblem of the company’s global luxury brand Genesis, Hyundai Motor vice chairman Chung Eui-sun speaks at a launch event in Seoul on Wednesday. Hyundai MotorHyundai Motor, the nation’s top automaker, launched its global brand “Genesis” on Wednesday in response to the fast-growing luxury auto market.The carmaker said it chose Genesis -- the model name of its full-size sedan -- for its global luxury brand, considering the car’s global presence. The Genesis brand will be

The biannual Tokyo Motor Show, one of the world’s top five automotive fairs, has been the perfect venue to look into directions Japanese carmakers are taking.The 2015 Tokyo auto show, which kicked off at the Tokyo Big Sight on Wednesday, features cutting-edge auto technologies of Japanese car manufacturers, including Toyota, Nissan and Honda.In particular, Japan’s global leadership in green cars such as plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles is taking center stage at the trade show, as German di

Jaguar Land Rover Korea is likely to face a penalty in Korea next year for overstating the fuel economy of its 2015 Jaguar XF 2.2D, the diesel-powered British executive saloon, according to news reports on Sunday. “Jaguar Land Rover Korea overstated the fuel economy of its best-selling luxury sedan by more than 10 percent both on the city road and highway tests,” a Yonhap news report quoted an industry source as saying. The result is based on this year’s first-round fuel economy tests of 23 samp

Nissan’s Maxima sedan has returned to Korea with stronger performance and an upscale feel. The Japanese carmaker’s all-new Maxima, which had its Asia launch on Oct. 1 in Seoul, is a four-door sports sedan boasting 303 horsepower. The 2016 Nissan Maxima, ranked the first in the “affordable large car category” by U.S. News & World Report, has one of the most powerful non-turbocharge six-cylinder engines on the market. Under the hood, the all-new Nissan Maxima’s 3.5-liter VQ-series V6 engine has be

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s top automaker, said Thursday that its third-quarter net profit sank 25.3 percent from a year earlier largely due to a drop in emerging markets’ currencies and increased costs.In a regulatory filing, the automaker reported a net profit of 1.21 trillion won ($1.06 billion) for the July-September period, compared with a profit of 1.62 percent a year earlier.Operating income declined 8.8 percent on-year to reach 1.5 trillion won over the cited period, while sales rose 2.

Korea’s eight free economic zones nationwide, including Incheon FEZ and Saemangeum-Gunsan FEZ, are paying close attention to the National Assembly this month, with lawmakers starting discussions on the ratification of a free trade agreement with China, signed by the two governments in June.FEZs, specialized areas designed to encourage foreign investors, have long waited for the launch of the Korea-China FTA since the two nations started talks back in 2012, hoping the trade pact with the world’s

Investors are coming back to Hyundai Motor as a weakening won and strong sales of new cars at home in the third quarter give shares of the nation’s top automaker a chance to bottom out from the yearlong slump. The all-new Avante, which debuted in September. Hyundai MotorAccording to stock market operator Korea Exchange, shares of the carmaker rose about 27 percent for the past three months until last Friday when they closed at 167,000 won ($141.17). They have been in a slump for the past year si

The South Korean Ministry of Environment said Monday that it would launch an investigation into diesel-powered Volkswagen and Audi cars here to test whether or not they complied with its emissions standards.Volkswagen’s diesel cars that the Korean authority is set to investigate include Jetta, Beetle, Passat and Audi A3 cars produced between 2009 and 2015. The move came on the heels of the news Friday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found the German carmaker cheated on its emission

Despite the continued economic slowdown and a recent big stock market crash in China, the number of Chinese dollar billionaires is expected to hit a record high of 450 this year, up 26 percent from 358 in 2014, an expert on successful Chinese individuals said.  Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report“Wealth creation in China has been extraordinary over the past 16 years. There was only one dollar billionaire when I started doing research on China’s rich people back in 199

Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, makes opening remarks on the first day of the annual KCCI Jeju Forum at Hotel Shilla in Jejudo on Wednesday. KCCI

Korea Electric Power Corp., the nation’s sole power distributor, said Friday it had installed the country’s first energy storage system for power system frequency regulation at the West-Ansung substation in Gyeonggi Province. With the installment of ESS for frequency regulation, KEPCO said it would be able not only to reduce power purchasing costs, but also to lay the foundations for the development of related industries.Starting with the 28 megawatt ESS in the West-Ansung sub-station, KEPCO wil

Interest in the new the Mercedes-Maybach S600, with a local price tag of 294 million won ($262,000), is heating up among corporate executives. According to Mercedes-Benz Korea, the sub-brand of its premium product line S-Class neared its yearly target of 200 units in June, just three months since its April launch.“We introduced the two trims of S-Class cars with Maybach badges -- the Mercedes-Maybach S500 and S600. The combined sales of the two models reached 192 units by the end of June, and ab

Samsung C&T on Sunday rebuffed a report by global shareholder adviser Institutional Shareholder Services that recommended its shareholders to oppose the proposed merger with Cheil Industries, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group. Samsung’s construction and trading unit said it was concerned that the report would mislead investors. “Despite the projection of a 22.6 percent stock plunge in the case of a merger failure, the ISS report recommended Samsung C&T shareholders to vote against th

There are so many issues going on in so many sectors of society in Korea and, yet, so little room to speak of the future. However, the best timing to prepare for a chaotic future is before a crisis. “Korea is a society moving forward, but it stands at a critical juncture. In a world of rapid change and fierce competition, Korea will lose ground unless it changes its fast-follower mindset, which worked well in an era of industrialization. Now, it needs a new model for future prosperity, led by in

Being small doesn’t mean you’re not strong. The same rule can be applied to the Mini John Cooper Works, a high-performance Mini. Built for the track, the new Mini JCW, which debuted in Korea last Friday, goes the extra mile in performance compared to the previous model, positioning itself as the fastest and the most powerful car in the Mini family.The car is the second JCW model that Mini has introduced since BMW, Mini’s parent company, bought John Cooper Works in 2006. The acquired firm had bee

QM3, the compact sport utility vehicle brand of Renault Samsung Motors, is strengthening its market leadership in the segment this year, leading the company’s sales growth.According to the nation’s third-largest carmaker, the accumulated sales of QM3 cars since the model’s debut in December 2013 are expected to exceed 30,000 units by June or early July. “Popularity of our compact SUVs has risen since last year. Sales of QM3 cars for the first five months soared 77.4 percent to 7,974 units compar

The nation’s business community called for action plans to revitalize the sagging domestic economy, hit by the recent outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome.“Business leaders brought in those ideas, with MERS fears dragging down the sagging domestic economy,” said Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.According to a recent survey conducted by the KCCI, a growing number of Korean companies, especially small and self-employed businesses, felt a financial pinc

The growth rate of South Korea’s household savings fell to its lowest level since the global financial crisis, reflecting people’s struggle to seek more profitable investment alternatives amid low interest rates, according to data released by the central bank on Sunday.Household deposits totaled 547.7 trillion won ($494 billion) as of the end of April, up 26.6 trillion won or 5.1 percent from the same period a year ago, the Bank of Korea said.Of that, savings deposits stood at 492.5 trillion won

The spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome is battering the nation’s economy, which was showing signs of recovery, sapping consumer spending and economic activity.The agricultural sector is no exception. Experts said farmers were suffering from a decrease in demand for agricultural products as people avoid crowded places like department and discount stores.According to the Korea Foodservice Industry Research Institute, local restaurants reported an average 38.5 percent drop in sales from Jun