BUSINESS - Page 32

The South Koreans recalled about 1.6 million and 1.7 million vehicles in the U.S. due to an engine compartment fire risk. Hyundai and Kia began recalling cars in 2015 due to problems with their Theta II engines, including stalling, and owners have reported some of those vehicles catching on fire. The fires have occurred without a crash or injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the cause, and the companies have agreed to a settlement that includes fines

Tesla is working on upgrading its gigacasting tech to die-cast nearly all vehicle underbody parts in one piece, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources close to the automaker. The state-owned Chinese newspaper, based its report on a recent visit to Tesla’s Shanghai factory, but did not say when and where the upgrade will happen. Reuters reported this month that the Silicon Valley electric car maker is closing in on an innovation allowing it to die-cast a

British electric vehicle supplier Bedeo said on Wednesday it had launched a service to convert thousands of diesel vans to electric hybrids, starting in France, to take advantage of government subsidies for retrofitting fossil-fuel models. The company’s kit lets owners replace the combustion engine with an electric motor, add a battery pack, and install software to manage charging and driving behavior. The service costs about 25,000 euros ($29,600), with the cost of electricity used to power the car included in

Global production of primary aluminium hit an all-time high in August, with the world’s smelters running at an annualised rate of 71.2 million metric tons. It was the second consecutive month that run-rates crossed the mark, which had only been surpassed once before, in August 2022. China’s output was boosted by the resumption of operations in Yunnan, a hub for the high-margin “green” metal whose popularity has surged thanks to its environmental credentials. But the region is currently grappling with

Several pilots have left Vietnam after restructuring Bamboo Airways in the last two months after late payments in salaries, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people said about 30 foreign pilots departed during that time, more than 10% of the airline’s total pilot staff in June. Messages seen by Reuters from an internal company chat forum show some salary payments to foreign pilots have been late. A spokeswoman for the airline, which has no publicly listed stock,

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the world’s largest financial group, has many businesses, including commercial banking, investment banking, and asset management. Its global network stretches over 50 countries and serves clients that include small- and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations. One of its flagship initiatives is the MUFG Cup, which organizes soccer tournaments for sixth-grade students about to graduate from elementary schools in Tokyo Aichi and Osaka. The idea is to encourage young people to be socially active and develop a

Fourteen months after Russia invaded Ukraine, KFC’s parent company completed its withdrawal from the country, selling the remaining restaurants to a local franchisee. According to Reuters, the deal transfers ownership of the Russian restaurants, operating system, and trademark to Smart Service, a Russian franchisee led by business people Konstantin Kotov and Andrey Oskolkov. The price was not disclosed. The sale was delayed by new demands from Moscow when the agreement reached its final stages, according to Sergei Levin, who heads

Apple supplier Pegatron temporarily halted iPhone assembly at its facility in south India on Monday after a fire incident on Sunday night, three sources told Reuters. The Taiwanese firm canceled the first two shifts of the day at the factory near Chennai in Tamil Nadu state and is yet to inform assembly workers whether it will operate the third shift of the day, they added. No casualties have been reported. A fire at the plant, built by local firm Casagrand

With more and more automakers signing up to access Tesla’s electric-vehicle charging infrastructure across the United States, the Elon Musk-led company’s superchargers are moving closer to becoming the industry standard. The move comes a few weeks after GM and Ford announced that their EVs could use the company’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug at Tesla’s vast charging station network, which already boasts 12,000 chargers. While several other automakers, including BMW, MB, Nissan, Renault, and Volvo, have already made similar

The world’s top-selling automaker is trying to catch up with Tesla and other electric vehicle (EV) makers. Toyota Motor (7203.T) is investing in self-propelled assembly lines and massive die casting to wring inefficiency, including excess costs, from its manufacturing processes as it aims to roll out electric vehicles across its entire lineup by 2025. It also wants to sell EVs with 600 miles of range and above in 2026. A report in Nikkei said on Friday that the Japanese carmaker