Hyundai North America CEO John Krafcik said that the company, which currently has difficulties keeping up with demand due to a tight inventory, will increase U.S production by 19 percent from September until year’s end compared to the same period in 2011.
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It was the first strike in four years and a major setback as it cost the Korean carmaker $1.4 billion in production losses. This makes it the second-costliest strike in the company's history.
Today, however, Hyundai announced that it has reached a tentative wage deal with the labor union leaders and thus, end the strike and resume normal production.
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The police officer pulled over a minivan near a subway station in the town of Yeonsan for a routine traffic stop when he discovered that the driver had an arrest warrant stemming from a drug charge.
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Renault Samsung said on Friday that it would launch its first ever voluntary redundancy programme in order to deal with falling sales both in its home market and abroad.
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For the 2013 model year, Hyundai has gone ahead and made some minor changes to the South Korean market model including the introduction of newly designed 17-inch wheels, a "Hazel Bronze" exterior finish, the use of LED tail lamps, tweaked windshield wipers and if we're not mistaken, darker headlamp fixtures.
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Just last year, sales of Korean cars in the European Union grew 24 percent, even though the overall market contracted. French carmakers, on the other hand, saw their sales drop with PSA Peugeot Citroen announcing plans to slash 8,000 jobs.
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The first thing you need to know about the K3 is that it is a global model with the alphanumeric moniker used only in Korea where it goes on sale this fall.
In the first quarter of 2013, the sedan will begin arriving in North American dealerships as the 2014 Forte and in other markets as the new Cerato, with coupe and hatchback variants to follow in due time. We still do not know if Kia has plans to sell the compact saloon model in Europe.
For our third post on the new LS during the past 24 hours, we have to thank Carscoop reader Lloyd who discovered these scoop pictures of the Japanese model sitting right under a Toyota Venza on a transport truck in South Korea.
Here's what Lloyd told Carscoop: "Another tip on the 2013 LS. Although the 2013 Lexus LS has been leaked, new spy photos of the non-F-Sport version with little camouflage have surfaced online from South Korea."
From what we can tell, he is probably right about the car not being an F-Sport model. The styling differences between the sported-up and the regular 2013 LS seem to be limited to the bumpers and alloy wheel designs.
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After the release of two drawings and a batch of teaser images earlier this week, Kia has a new promotional trick up its sleeve as it brought the K3 sedan to a mall in South Korea. The compact model is enclosed in a puzzle-like box with openings to allow by passers to catch a glimpse of the car.
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In North America, it will be offered as the 2014 Forte, while in Australia, Brazil and other overseas markets as the new Cerato, and in Kia's home market of South Korea, as the K3 alongside the K5 (Optima), K7 (Cadenza) and K9 (Quoris)
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The new generation of the Forte sedan is teased in these official renderings ahead of a launch in its home market of Korea under the new name 'K3'(domestic market only) and possibly a U.S. debut either at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November or the Detroit Motor Show in January of 2013.
Kia said that after the Forte sedan goes on sale in Korea, it will appear in many overseas markets during the first quarter of 2013, and will be followed by the five-door hatchback and two-door coupe variants.
Analysts believe that Nissan will benefit from a weak Korean won and recent free trade deals.
The French-Japanese firm said it will invest US$160 million (€130 million) to add 80,000 units of the Nissan Rogue production in Korea and "increase cost competitiveness of a key industrial base". The vehicles will be shipped to North America and select Asian countries.
While the engine range differs from country to country (for example, Europe gets a 194hp / 197PS 2.2-liter turbo diesel while North America a 276hp 3.6-liter V6 gasoline, in addition to the 2.4-liter petrol offered in both regions), the styling is more or less the same sans some very minor differences.
That said, the design changes are common for all markets, which brings us to these latest photos that afford us our first look at the facelifted Sorento's interior.
The latest iteration of the Sorento, which will be sold as a 2014MY in the States, features a redesigned LCD instrument cluster plus a new center console with a 7-inch display screen and more modern and upscale controls for the audio and air conditioning systems.
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Hyundai's South Korean arm, for example, created an extended spot to answer a question nobody really asked: Can a car go faster than an arrow?
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Whereas the two previous (unrelated) incidents from the country involving a BMW and a Hyundai Sonata YF were allegedly linked to a sticky accelerator pedal issue, this one is claimed to have occurred due to brake failure.
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In less than a minute, the driver of this silver Daewoo - from what we can tell, somewhere in South Korea, managed to crash her small sedan not once, not twice but three times in a parking lot entry!
Sound impossible, but it is true and there's footage from a closed circuit television camera to prove it.
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As recently as this past February, Kia said that the Soul cabriolet is "currently under final assessment for production". We shall see.
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The story has since been picked up by mainstream media in Korea and across the world, including CNN, ABC and even the Wall Street Journal.
In Korea, the video of the accident sparked a government-led investigation whilst Hyundai itself, while refusing interviews to talk about the incident issued a brief statement saying, "The vehicle is being investigated by the Korean National Forensic Service. There is no time estimate for the conclusion of the investigation."
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From what we can tell, the driver of an older generation Hyundai Sonata either crashed or lost control of the vehicle and passed onto the opposite side of the freeway where he collided first with a Kia Sportage crossover and then into a minivan at high speed.
The collision was so severe that the Hyundai broke in two. According to a translation provided by YouTube users, the front passenger of the Sonata died immediately while the driver and the two rear passengers made it out alive but injured.
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