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Tag: automotive

  • Rolls-Royce agrees to follow Korea’s lemon law

    Rolls-Royce agrees to follow Korea’s lemon law

    Rolls-Royce announced Wednesday it will follow Korea’s voluntary lemon law for automakers, making it the first foreign luxury brand to accept the newly introduced regulation. Korea’s revised automobile management law, enacted last month, forces complying automakers to replace or refund recently purchased vehicles that repeatedly exhibit problems, similar to lemon laws in the United States.

    While most local automakers have adopted the rule, Volvo has been the only overseas brand to do so.

    The U.K.-based automaker said it will abide by the country’s revised auto guidelines to strengthen its quality commitment to Korean customers.

    “Rolls-Royce will be the first luxury brand to accept the amended automobile management act,” said Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos at a launch event on Wednesday for the automaker’s showroom in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul.

    “It is our responsibility … to reassure our Korean customers that we will stand by our promise of ultimate quality,” added Muller-Otvos.

    Foreign automakers’ reputations took a blow in Korea last year. BMW Korea conducted two series of recalls after its vehicles began bursting into flames due to component defects.

    The Korean unit of Mercedes-Benz was fined 2.8 billion won ($2.5 million) in December for violating environmental and customs law regarding emissions certifications.

    BMW was fined for similar reasons at the start of this year.

    The quality push from Rolls-Royce comes as the luxury automaker achieved record sales figures last year in the Korean market as foreign imported vehicles continue to grow in popularity.

    According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, Rolls-Royce sales in the domestic market grew 43 percent to 123 units last year from 86 in 2017. Foreign auto imports increased by 11.8 percent.

    The luxury automaker’s performance in the Korean market last year outpaced its 22 percent growth in global sales.

    According to Rolls-Royce, the brand’s sales grew at a rapid pace in Korea last year thanks to an expanded lineup, including the Phantom.

    The CEO said he expects the company’s performance in the country to continue to improve.

    “Korea is a very important cornerstone in our Asia strategy,” said Muller-Otvos. “We might even see at a certain moment Korea overtaking the Japanese business in terms of size.”

    The luxury automaker’s chief also emphasized the automaker’s commitment to the luxury sector as the auto industry braces for major changes.

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  • VinFast to test its first car for safety in Europe next month

    VinFast to test its first car for safety in Europe next month

    VinFast, Vietnam’s first indigenous car manufacturer, plans to test its first vehicle for safety parameters in Europe on March 6. According to company executives, the vehicle will be tested for international standards to ensure its highest safety. This announcement came after VinFast’s Hai Phong factory successfully manufactured the first body shell of the Lux A2.0, a sedan, Wednesday.

    Shaun William Calvert, deputy general director in charge of production, said the first body shell meets the highest quality requirements.

    VinFast, the car manufacturing unit of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, showed off its first two car models, a sedan and an SUV, at the Paris Motor Show in France last October just a year after the company’s incorporation, grabbing the attention of the local and international media.

    VinFast’s first cars are expected to hit the road in August 2019.

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  • Hyundai may promote its Nexo with bottled water

    Hyundai may promote its Nexo with bottled water

    Hyundai Motor is considering releasing a range of bottled water inspired by its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle Nexo, the company confirmed Monday. The automaker is hoping to use the Nexo-branded water to market its Nexo sport-utility vehicle (SUV) as pure and eco-friendly, like water. The unusual approach of using water to promote the car’s eco-friendly aspect is thought to be an industry first.

    Hyundai will be partnering with local convenience store chain CU. The date of the water’s debut has yet to be fixed, according to a press officer from Hyundai, rejecting claims by some media outlets that the launch could be as early as next month. The company also said mass production of the bottled water has not yet begun.

    When asked whether the water will be produced using any of the technology that goes into making a fuel-cell vehicle – water is a byproduct of a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle – the press officer said, “the product will be like general drinking water used for marketing rather than a medium to show our car technologies.”

    The marketing scheme comes as Hyundai Motor Group is increasing its focus on hydrogen energy as its future growth engine.

    Just last month, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun was appointed co-chair of the Hydrogen Council, a group of business leaders that promote hydrogen energy. On appointment, he highlighted the potential of a hydrogen energy-based economy where hydrogen energy would meet 18 percent of the total global energy demand and create millions of jobs by 2050.

    Hydrogen fuel-cell cars are powered by electricity generated through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. It is often labeled as the ultimate eco-friendly car because its only byproduct is water, which is environmentally friendly. However, there are still some technological hurdles to make it the most common car on the roads, including high prices.

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  • Hyundai to focus on customization

    Hyundai to focus on customization

    The chief of Hyundai Motor’s financial affiliates outlined the units’ digital strategy and future vision at IBM’s largest annual conference that ran through Friday in San Francisco. Chung Tae-yong, who heads Hyundai Card, Hyundai Capital and Hyundai Commercial, said that finely-tuning customization will take center stage in Hyundai’s approach to serving financial services’ clients.

    “The existing concept of market customization is irrelevant to the current business environment,” said the CEO, whose English name is Ted Chung, during a session with Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM.

    “Customization should not be based on widely-held assumptions, like young people might love zombie movies or older people won’t listen to hip-hop music,” Chung said, “If one likes candy, that is just it.”

    He went on to note that Hyundai Card holds a wide range of information that points to clients’ daily lives, preferences and hobbies and that the new services under development will be tailored using that data.

    Chung also cited Buddy, an AI-based chatbot for customer service using machine learning technology from IBM’s Watson.

    “It’s almost impossible to fully understand or memorize the benefits, limits, or conditions of a finance product,” he said.

    “So we introduced IBM Watson and it became a very powerful tool to help our employees and helped us to lower our employee turnover rate to less than 10 percent.”

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  • 2018 sales of EV doubled in Korea

    2018 sales of EV doubled in Korea

    Hyundai Motor Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun laid out a plan to develop 44 electric vehicle models (EVs) and sell 1.67 million of the cars by 2025 during his New Year’s message held at the beginning of this year. The goal was a dramatic increase on the 38 models he planned to have by 2025 at the start of 2018. The revised goal is rooted in the fact that EVs are growing at an unprecedented pace in the global auto industry.

    According to U.S. market research firm S&P Global Platts, the number of electric cars sold worldwide exceeded 2 million in 2018 including plug-in hybrids, double the 1 million sold in 2017.

    This achievement came seven years after Tesla rolled out its Model S, opening the era of EVs, and more than two decades since Toyota released the world’s first hybrid, the Prius.

    Among the total number of EV cars sold, battery-electric vehicles sold 1.45 million units last year, followed by plug-in hybrids at 550,000 units.

    The most popular model was Tesla’s Model 3, which started mass production last year. Unlike the Model S and X, which cost over 100 million won ($88,850), the Model 3 was released as a more affordable model with a price tag around 50 to 60 million won. It sold 146,846 units, taking the top spot.

    Four Chinese companies ranked high in the top 10. The EC Series from Beijing Automotive Group ranked second. BYD’s eco-friendly plug-in hybrid, the e5, and JAC Motor’s iEV E/S were also on the list. Among Japanese cars, Nissan’s Leaf placed third while Toyota’s Prius Prime was ninth and Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid placed 10th.

    Hyundai and Kia both made it to the top 10 list of automakers for the first time. Combined, the two sold 90,860 units last year, taking the eighth spot.

    Tesla sold the most cars, at 245,240, followed by China’s BYD at 229,338. German brands, traditionally strong players in the vehicle market, had BMW at fifth and Volkswagen at ninth.

    Industry analysts project the market for electric cars will expand at an even faster speed. Deloitte, a global consulting firm, expects 4 million EVs to be sold in 2020 and 14 million in 2025. By 2030 it expects EV sales to hit 21 million.

    Considering that 98 million cars are sold worldwide annually, within 20 years one of every five cars purchased will be an EV.

    Experts say that while the United States and China have led the growth of the EV market, that is likely to change in the future.

    Deloitte forecast that cost reductions from technology development will pull down the price of EVs to be on a par with diesel cars by 2022. This means the product sector will gain price competitiveness, no longer relying on government subsidies.

    The market will also get more competitive. Toyota and Volkswagen are both planning to release new electric cars in the near future, with Volkswagen aiming to make 25 percent of the cars it produces EVs by 2025. Its investment in electric cars is already worth 20 billion euros ($2.25 billion).

    According to consulting firm AlixPartners, Volkswagen Group is planning to release 55 EV models by 2022. This accounts for half of all EV models slated for release by then.

    “Government subsidies played a big role in enabling Chinese firms to sell large numbers of EVs, but its finances have hit the limit,” said Kwon Yong-ju, a professor from Kookmin University’s department of automotive & transportation design.

    “With European companies having accumulated technology and capital while waiting for the commercialization of EVs, the future could be quite different from now.”

    “Major countries, like the United States and Europe, have tightened regulations toward environmental pollution more than before,” said Koh Tae-bong, head of research center at Hi Investment & Securities. “For car companies, it is inevitable that they will expand the amount of electric cars they make.”

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  • U.S. agency submits auto tariff probe report to White House

    U.S. agency submits auto tariff probe report to White House

    The U.S. Commerce Department sent a report on Sunday to U.S. President Donald Trump that could unleash steep tariffs on imported cars and auto parts, provoking a sharp backlash from the industry even before it is unveiled, the agency confirmed. Late on Sunday, a department spokeswoman said it would not disclose any details of the “Section 232” national security report submitted to Trump by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The disclosure of the submission came less than two hours before the end of a 270-day deadline.

    Trump has 90 days to decide whether to act upon the recommendations, which auto industry officials expect to include at least some tariffs on fully assembled vehicles or on technologies and components related to electric, automated, connected and shared vehicles.

    As the White House received the report, the industry unleashed what is expected to be a massive lobbying campaign against it.

    The industry has warned that feared tariffs of up to 25 percent on millions of imported cars and parts would add thousands of dollars to vehicle costs and potentially lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses throughout the U.S. economy.

    The Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents auto parts suppliers, warned that tariffs will shrink investment in the United States at a time when the auto industry is already reeling from declining sales, Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, and tariffs on auto parts from China.

    “These tariffs, if applied, could move the development and implementation of new automotive technologies offshore, leaving America behind,” it said in a statement. “Not a single company in the domestic auto industry requested this investigation.”

    The Commerce Department started its investigation in May 2018 at Trump’s request. Known as a Section 232 investigation, its purpose was to determine the effects of imports on national security and it had to be completed by Sunday.

    Automakers and parts suppliers are anticipating its recommendation options will include broad tariffs of up to 20 percent to 25 percent on assembled cars and parts, or narrower tariffs targeting components and technologies related to new energy cars, autonomous, internet-connected and shared vehicles.

    The Commerce Department alluded to a focus on emerging vehicle technologies when it opened the investigation.

    Administration officials have said tariff threats on autos are a way to win concessions from Japan and the EU. Last year, Trump agreed not to impose tariffs as long as talks with the two trading partners were proceeding in a productive manner.

    Trump said on Friday that tariffs protect industry and also help win trade agreements.

    “I love tariffs, but I also love them to negotiate,” he said.

    A report from the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, published on Friday showed its worst-case scenario of a tariff of 25 percent would cost 366,900 U.S. jobs in the auto and related industries.

    U.S. light duty vehicle prices would increase by $2,750 on average, including U.S.-built vehicles, reducing annual U.S. sales by 1.3 million units and forcing many consumers to the used car market, the think tank’s report said.

    Major automaker groups said last year the cumulative effect for the United States would be an $83 billion annual price increase and argued there was no evidence auto imports posed a national security risk.

    Canada and Mexico each won duty-free access to 2.6 million vehicles as part of a new North American free trade deal even if the administration moves ahead with the tariffs.

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  • Renault Korea still at odds with union

    Renault Korea still at odds with union

    Renault Samsung Motors and its labor union once again failed to reach a consensus on 2018 wages after negotiations fell through for a 14th time on Tuesday. Renault Samsung is the only domestic automaker that has still not clinched a wage deal for last year. A source from the automaker said the Tuesday talks lasted for about an hour and a half after the meeting began at 2 p.m. at Renault Samsung’s Busan factory, but ended in vain.

    The major issue of disagreement is over whether to raise the base pay.

    The labor union has been requesting a 100,667 won ($89.51) raise in base pay. The company has refused, citing bad timing, and offered incentives if the base pay is maintained instead.

    The wage deal is very important for both the company and the labor union, as it comes at a crucial time.

    While Renault Samsung’s Busan factory has been producing Nissan’s Rogue compact crossover on consignment, the contract ends in September.

    The Korean unit of Renault needs to negotiate with the French headquarters to win follow-up models to produce in Busan. As Rogue production accounts for nearly half the workload at the Busan factory, it could be seriously harmed if the deal falls through and may even end up following in the footsteps of GM Korea’s Gunsan factory in North Jeolla, which closed last year.

    The company claims raising the base pay at this time would negatively affect negotiations with the headquarters.

    The labor union, however, responded to the company with partial strikes. From October last year through last month, the labor union has gone on strike 28 times at the Busan factory. The labor union claims it deserves a base pay raise considering its wage is about 85 percent that of workers at Hyundai Motor factories and its productivity has been high.

    In response to the strikes, Jose Vicente de Los Mozos Obispo, Deputy Alliance Executive Vice President, Manufacturing & Supply Chain at Renault, sent a video message to employees at the Korean unit earlier this month, warning the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance cannot assign new models to the factory if the strikes continue. Renault considers labor cost, production cost and supply stability when allocating new models to factories.

    The two parties have yet to hammer out their differences in the negotiations that began in June last year.

    The company and the labor union will have another round of negotiations soon, though the exact date was not released Tuesday.

    Renault Samsung is in a hurry to finalize the deal as it is running out of time to win new models for the Busan factory before September. The factory needs several months of preparation to adjust production lines to produce a new model.

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  • Vietnamese car maker plans private share issue

    Vietnamese car maker plans private share issue

    Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO) is planning to issue more than 30.3 million shares to a strategic shareholder. The company is currently collecting shareholders’ opinions on a draft resolution to authorize a private placement worth an estimated total of VND3.89 trillion ($167.19 million) to Jardine Cycle & Carriage, a Singaporean diversified conglomerate that specializes in investment in car manufacturing.

    The share issue aims to raise additional capital to finance THACO’s investment and business plans this year, the company said in a circular issued to shareholders last week.

    The 30.3 million shares proposed in this placement make up 1.82 percent of THACO’s current chartered capital, and will raise the Singaporean shareholder’s stake in the car manufacturer to 26.57 percent.

    The share ownership of remaining shareholders will remain unchanged. Currently, 6.8 percent of THACO is owned by billionaire Tran Ba Duong, founder and chairman of the company, and another 60.6 percent by Tran Oanh JSC, a holding company owned by Duong and his family.

    The shares are expected to be issued soon after the State Securities Commission has confirmed the receipt of all documentation regarding the private placement.

    Dong Nai-based THACO was established as an auto and commercial vehicle maker in 1997. It has a plant in central province of Quang Nam and 89 showrooms and 53 dealerships.

    It makes trucks and buses and assembles cars for brands like Kia (South Korea), Mazda (Japan), and Peugeot (France).

    Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd, which is part of the Jardine Group of companies, has a diverse business portfolio. They have long term shareholdings in major manufacturers such as Jakarta based Astra International, as well as other interests in the refrigeration, cement and milk business.

    In Singapore, Jardine C&C is best known as the retailer of Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Kia, Citroen, DS, and Maxus motor vehicles. The company has a current market capitalisation of S$14.55 billion (US$10.71 billion).

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  • Mercedes back in No. 4 spot on E-class sales in Korea

    Mercedes back in No. 4 spot on E-class sales in Korea

    Mercedes-Benz outsold local carmakers in Korea to finish fourth in domestic sales in January, industry data showed Monday. The Korean unit of the German automaker sold 5,796 vehicles last month, equal to 4 percent of the total 114,632 vehicles. The sum places it fourth after Hyundai Motor (31.2 percent), Kia Motors (22.8 percent) and SsangYong Motor (6.1 percent).

    January sales for Mercedes-Benz Korea shrank 22.8 percent compared with the month before, but they were still higher than the monthly sales by Renault Samsung Motors (3.5 percent) and GM Korea (3.1 percent).

    The last time that the German brand reached No. 4 in monthly sales was back in April last year, a ranking that followed the closure of a local assembly plant by GM Korea two months earlier. Mercedes-Benz defended the ranking for three months before slipping to No. 6 in May last year.

    In yearly sales, Mercedes-Benz Korea sold 70,798 units for a market share of 4.5 percent last year, behind Renault Samsung (5.7 percent) and GM Korea (5.5 percent).

    Industry watchers attribute the sales increase to the success of the E-Class. January sales of the lineup were the 12th highest at 3,392 units, a number meaning that one E-Class vehicle was sold for every three Grandeur autos from Hyundai Motor purchased.

    The E-Class cars outsold Genesis, an independent brand launched by Hyundai that is pitted as its domestic rival, last year.

    The “diesel-gate” scandal that pounded German brands also helped promote the E-Class, which are mostly gasoline cars,

    “This year, BMW and Audi are scheduled to release new sedans, and a full-change Genesis G80 is also due soon,” one source noted. “This will likely affect the sales of the E-Class.”

  • Korea automobile production falls for 3rd year in 2018

    Korea automobile production falls for 3rd year in 2018

    Korea’s auto production tumbled for a third consecutive year in 2018 amid weaker domestic and global demand, data showed Sunday. According to the data by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), Korea produced 4.03 million vehicles last year, down 2.1 percent from the previous year. The figure has been decreasing over the past three years from 4.56 million in 2015 to 4.23 million in 2016 and 4.12 in 2017.

    The 2018 figure put Korea as the seventh-largest car manufacturing country in the world, down one notch from the previous year, according to the association.

    Korea became the world’s fifth-largest maker of cars in 2005 and retained the ranking until 2015. But India edged out Korea to stand at the world’s sixth in 2016 and 2017. Last year, Korea fell behind Mexico.

    China was found to produce the largest number of vehicles in 2018, with 27.81 million followed by the United States, Japan, Germany and India.

    Korea’s total car exports also fell to 2.45 million vehicles last year from the previous year’s 2.53 million, the KAMA said, adding that the country accounted for 4.1 percent of the world’s car production in 2018, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier.

    “Contentious labor-management relations, as well as stiff labor market conditions, among others, appear to negatively affect local carmakers’ competitiveness,” the association said in a release, calling for state support and business innovation.

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  • Report urges auto industry to go electric

    Report urges auto industry to go electric

    Korea needs to give equal emphasis to the development of battery electric vehicles and fuel cell cars, considering the estimated future demand and the country’s competitiveness, a report said Thursday. “It’s a well-known fact that our car manufacturers have the mass-production technology for fuel cell automobiles,” the report from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) said. “However, the accumulated sales of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) worldwide stopped at 10,000 as of the end of 2018. The demand for fuel cell vehicles in 2030 will be less than 2 percent of the global sales of new automobiles.”

    In comparison, sales of battery electric vehicles (EVs) are estimated to exceed the demand for hybrids this year, 10 years since their commercialization, and show fast-paced growth, the report argued. Global rivals are due to market more than 100 different EV models by 2022, it noted.

    Korea’s high competitiveness in EV batteries is another reason why the government should not neglect investment in electric cars, the report said, warning that the relative weaknesses in the availability of charging stations and other networks could drag down the industry, despite efforts by local automakers to diversify their EV models. The report responded skeptically to the government announcement in December to give 2 trillion won ($1.79 billion) in assistance to reform the car parts industry.

    “If the auto industry, the recipient, is unable to fully accommodate, it could be difficult for the assistance to have the desired effect,” it said.

    The same report predicted hard times ahead for local auto companies, affected by the global slump in the car industry.

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  • Sales of imported vehicles in Korea fell 10 percent in January

    Sales of imported vehicles in Korea fell 10 percent in January

    Sales of imported vehicles in Korea declined by more than 10 percent in January from a year earlier due to typically low seasonal demand and supply shortage of some brands, industry data showed on Friday. The number of foreign cars sold last month reached 18,198 units, down 13.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (Kaida).

    The tally also marks an 11 percent drop from a month earlier, the data showed. In 2018, sales of foreign cars continued to rise, helped by firm demand for foreign brands and the resumption of sales of Audi Volkswagen.

    The number of newly registered foreign vehicles reached 260,705, up 11.8 percent from 2017.

    Foreign passenger cars made up 16.7 percent of all vehicles that were registered in the country last year, shattering the previous record high of 15.5 percent in 2015.

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  • Unit price of exported automobiles in Korea up on SUV sales

    Unit price of exported automobiles in Korea up on SUV sales

    The average unit price for exported automobiles last year reached a record high of $15,400, pushed up by the strong performance of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), according to industry statistics Thursday. Monthly data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) put total exports by five local carmakers last year at 2,447,903, down 3.2 percent from the previous year. The monetary sum from the shipments came to $37.68 billion, 1.6 percent less than the year before.

    Despite decreases in both, the unit price of each exported vehicle remained strong thanks to exports of relatively more expensive SUVs, the data indicated, increasing 1.6 percent from 2017.

    Local manufacturers shipped 1,386,539 SUVs last year, up 6.7 percent compared with the year before, setting a new record.

    “The export volume for vehicles shrank from dulled demand in the global market, but it’s fortunate that the export-unit price rose from increased shipments of high value-added cars,” a KAMA official said.

    By manufacturer, Renault Samsung Motors had the highest unit price, at $17,100.

    It was followed by SsangYong Motor, at $17,000. The unit price was $16,200 for Hyundai Motor, $14,900 for Kia Motors and $13,400 for GM Korea.

    Records showed that the unit price rose up to the mid-2010s, rising from $12,000 in 2010 to $14,800 in 2014.

    It pivoted down to $14,200 in 2015 and stayed in a lull in 2016 at the same level before going back up to $15,000 in 2017.

    In terms of export volume, the numbers have been going down since peaking at 3,166,000 in 2012.

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  • South Korea’s Hyundai bet big on hydrogen technology

    South Korea’s Hyundai bet big on hydrogen technology

    South Korea’s largest carmaker Hyundai Motor is hoping to revive its flagging fortunes by building more hydrogen-powered cars, as part of the country’s bid to become a leader in hydrogen technology by 2040. Last October in the United States, the company launched Nexo, an SUV that goes 609km on a single charge, has no battery, and puts out nothing but water vapour from its exhaust. And in December, it announced it would spend US$6.7 billion from now till 2030 on hydrogen technology.

    But its commitment to hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars is confounding some experts even though they agree the carmaker, the fifth-largest in the world by sales but struggling in the Chinese and American markets, needs to keep innovating.

    Namuh Rhee, former managing director of Merrill Lynch and now a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, said the focus on hydrogen cars was “questionable” because of the huge costs involved, while “virtually all other global car makers” had made big plans to produce battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs). The country also has a shortage of refilling stations for hydrogen vehicles in comparison to the growing number of charging stations for EVs.

    Figures in the car industry, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, had previously called hydrogen cars “mind-bogglingly stupid”, pointing out that developers were looking too far ahead at untested technology, even though the battery-powered solution to cleaner vehicles already existed.

    Hyundai’s plan, though, is aligned with President Moon Jae-in’s strategy to boost the local hydrogen economy. In a speech on January 17, he noted that a major part of the plan would involve ramping up the production of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, which currently trail battery-powered electric vehicles in popularity.

    Moon promised laws would be modified to allow hydrogen production to thrive, while there would be subsidies to encourage demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

    He said the country had produced 1,824 hydrogen cars as of end-2018, with more than half being exported. This year, the number would rise to 4,000, with a goal of 1.8 million cars by 2030.

    The advantages of domestic hydrogen production and distribution, he said, was that it would ease South Korea’s heavy dependence on energy imports – which currently provide 95 per cent of the country’s energy needs.

    “If the country is able to be relatively energy self-sufficient through the hydrogen economy, it will be possible to steer our economic growth more [in a more stable way] and safeguard our energy security more steadfastly,” he said.

    Hyundai, a pillar of the South Korean economy and partially owned by the family that founded it, still needs to prove that hydrogen is the technology of the future, and that it is capable of reinventing itself.

    Last month, the carmaker’s executive vice-chairman Chung Euisun – who is the apparent heir to his father, the company chairman Chung Mong-koo – joined a coalition of CEOs lobbying for hydrogen to be a bigger part of the global energy mix.

    Chung Eui-sun, 48, is now a co-chair of the Hydrogen Council, which counts Chinese oil and gas enterprise Sinopec, American multinational 3M and German automotive firm Daimler among its members.

    At the same time, Hyundai, which commands only 4 per cent of the Chinese and American car markets – down from almost 10 per cent in both a decade earlier – is also building electric vehicles. The company had previously announced it would release 44 models of electric vehicles (EV) by 2025, and last month, the Indonesian government announced the carmaker would set up its first Southeast Asian factory there to build electric cars for both export and domestic use.

    Rhee pointed out Hyundai had been slow to make the transition to EVs and autonomous driving, while other analysts said the company was at least three years behind competitors like Volkswagen, which is set to make electric versions of all its vehicles by 2030, and General Motors, which will have 20 EV models out by 2020.

    To show its commitment to innovation though, the company recently got two vice-chairmen in charge of research and development, both aged 64, to step down in December. It then appointed Albert Biermann, who formerly headed BMW’s M division and created several iconic cars, to head R&D efforts. Other engineers from BMW have also crossed over to join Biermann.

    Seoul-based capital markets analyst Steve Chung, of investment group CLSA, said Hyundai had undergone “massive management reshuffling” with younger people taking control of major functions in the company.

    “Maybe it’s a bit late, but I say better late than never. That’s why the share price has been rebounding,” said Steve Chung, who is not related to the family that founded Hyundai. In 2018, Hyundai Motor’s stock nosedived from its high of over 260,000 Korean won in 2013, to below 95,000 won (US$85) last November. It is now at 129,500 won.

    Ghim Hyunjoon, a company representative, said Hyundai was making great strides in its “cooperation with various start-ups, academics [and the like] to lead the future mobility market”. The carmaker also owns a minority stake in the country’s second-largest car company, Kia Motors.

    Last month, Hyundai took home two top awards from the Detroit Auto Show for best car and best SUV. It also unveiled in Las Vegas the world’s first holographic navigation system, which projects images on to the windscreen to guide drivers through turns and alert them to dangers. The system was born out of a collaboration with Swiss-headquartered augmented reality company WayRay, suggesting the infamously closed-door carmaker is starting to embrace start-ups as it looks to the future.

    Despite its recent wins, the outlook for Hyundai is still challenging, as the younger Chung acknowledged in a New Year’s speech to staff last month. He is expected to soon formally succeed his father, who is 80 years old.

    Analysts suggest the global car market is shrinking. Ageing baby boomers in the US are making fewer new vehicle purchases, while ride-hailing is expected to reduce car ownership overall, according to an industry report from consulting firm Bain & Company.

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  • Korean export decline picks up speed in January

    Korean export decline picks up speed in January

    Exports have continued to fall for a second month, but at a steeper rate, confirming concerns raised by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki earlier this week. Although Korea succeeded in posting a trade surplus for the 84th consecutive month, a new record, exports in January fell 5.8 percent, sharper than the 1.2 percent drop recorded in December.

    This is the first time since September and October 2016, when exports fell for two consecutive months.

    According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Friday, Korea’s exports in January amounted to $46.4 billion.

    Imports also retreated, losing 1.7 percent to $45 billion. As a result, Korea’s trade surplus in January was $1.3 billion, which is one-third of the $3.4 billion surplus reported a year ago.

    The ministry, however, said the decline of Korea’s exports wasn’t exclusive to Korea as other countries have also been falling as well.

    In December, China’s exports retreated 4.5 percent while Japan was down 3.2 percent, Taiwan lost 3 percent and Singapore fell 4.1 percent.

    The ministry said the decline was largely the result of external factors including the trade dispute between the United States and China, uncertainties resulting from Brexit, falling prices of semiconductors and crude and the slowing growth of the Chinese economy.

    Semiconductors, which were the largest contributor to last year’s thriving exports, played the biggest role in pulling down the number in January and December. Exports fell 23 percent compared to a year ago to $7.42 billion. Semiconductors account for roughly 20 percent of all Korean exports. Semiconductor exports have been shrinking after reaching a high of $12.4 billion in September 2018. The figure fell below $10 billion in December for the first time since April last year.

    The ministry blamed the falling price of semiconductors as global IT companies have been delaying additional purchases since the second half of last year. The price of an 8 gigabyte DRAM chip nosedived 36.5 percent from $9.60 a year ago to $6.10. The price of a 128 gigabyte NAND memory has fallen 22.4 percent from $6.7 to $5.2.

    Falling crude prices was another factor that drove down exports. Petroleum product exports fell 4.8 percent to $3.47 billion, while petrochemical goods slipped 5.3 percent to $3.98 billion. International oil prices have been falling since October last year. Last month, the price of a barrel of oil was down 10.7 percent on year.

    But these weren’t the only export items that struggled.

    Mobile telecommunication goods exports, including smartphones, have fallen 29.9 percent while computers exports are down 28.2 percent. Exports of ships fell 17.8 percent and displays were down 7.5 percent.

    Mobile telecommunication exports to the United States fell 9.7 percent, while the figure for member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) saw a steeper drop of 21.9 percent.

    On the contrary, automotive exports, which struggled throughout 2018, appeared to recover, growing almost at the same rate as a year ago.

    Automobile exports in January were up 13.4 percent to $3.67 billion, largely thanks to growing demand in the United States, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Exports to the United States in the first 20 days of January were up 43.4 percent to $820 million, Europe grew 20.7 percent to $350 million and the CIS surged 104.1 percent to $150 million.

    Thanks to positive growth in automotive exports, automobile parts exports grew as well, increasing 12.8 percent.

    Steel was another export good that saw an increase thanks to rising prices. When compared to a year ago, it grew 3.3 percent to $2.8 billion.

    By country, China, which is Korea’s No. 1 export market, tumbled 19.1 percent. China, as of last year, accounts for 26.8 percent of Korea’s exports.

    While the majority of the goods exported to China all fell last month, semiconductors, petroleum and petrochemical goods were hit especially hard. Semiconductor exports plummeted 40 percent in the first 20 days of last month to $1.61 billion, while petroleum exports fell 36.4 percent. Petrochemical exports lost 13.7 percent. The three products account for 44 percent of exports to China.

    Exports to the United States rose 20.4 percent to $6.21 billion, largely thanks to import of Korean automobiles, particularly SUVs, which saw an uptick of 43.4 percent.

    EU exports also grew in the double digits at 11.9 percent to $5 billion.

    The ministry said the situation will likely turn around in the second half when semiconductors and crude prices go up. The ministry said that when excluding semiconductors, petroleum and petrochemical goods, Korea’s exports in January only dipped 0.7 percent to $31.5 billion.

    The ministry also noted that new growth engine products like rechargeable batteries are doing well.

    It said that rechargeable battery exports have been rising over the last three years and are now expected to surpass exports of electronic consumer goods, which amount to $7.22 billion.

    Last year, secondary battery exports amounted to $7.23 billion, up 21.5 percent.

    Last month, it grew 14.5 percent year on year to $660 million.

    Biohealth exports have been growing in double-digits for four consecutive years. Last year, they reached a record of $8.15 billion, up 13 percent. Last month, however, biohealth exports fell 1.6 percent to $560 million. The ministry said that it still expects exports of biohealth goods to rise over the course of the year.

    OLED panels and electric vehicles are also seeing an increase in exports. OLED panels last month grew 12.8 percent to $800 million, while electric cars saw a surge of 184.7 percent to $280 million.

    The finance minister said the government will be coming up with measures to help small- and medium-sized exporters that may struggle from the recent turnaround, while Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo on Friday emphasized that the government will do its best to revitalize all exports.

    “Our plan will not be concentrated on short-term measures, but committed to all 365 days so that we can achieve $600 billion of exports by the end of this year,” Sung said.

    Korea, last year, reached a new milestone with exports exceeding $600 billion. However, with the global economy expected to shrink, there have been concerns that, this year, Korea’s exports may fall back below that threshold.

    “In a Jan. 21 export strategy meeting, we initiated a pan-government and a private-government joint support system, and since Jan. 30, we started a program of consulting on export difficulties in 15 cities starting with Changwon in South Gyeongsang,” the minister added.

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