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Hyundai reveals CEO's pay for first time ever

Thanks to some government pressure, Hyundai's billionaire chairman, Chung Mong Koo, has revealed just how much he gets paid each year. Honestly, the amount is a bit lower than we'd expect considering he helms such a huge industrial empire. The 76-year-old chairman brought home $13 million in 2013, $5.2 million of which came from Hyundai's automotive business while both Mobis and Hyundai Steel chipped in $3.94 million, each. For reference, Ford CEO Alan Mulally netted $23.2 million in 2013, although the vast majority of that money came from stock options.
The push for Chung to reveal his pay was part of a larger effort by the South Korean government called the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. The act forces several thousand companies to release info on annual pay, bonuses and severance for employees earning over $5 million won ($469,000), according to Bloomberg.
"With the disclosure of the executives' compensation, the pressure to deliver better profits will increase," said Heo Pil Seok, the CEO of Midas International Asset Management. It seems to be working, as Hyundai shareholders, of which Midas is one, have seen their shares increase by 6.1 percent in 2014, which includes a 1.2-percent jump as of yesterday, according to Bloomberg.

How Hyundai lost momentum, and will 'take a few years' to recover

SEOUL/DETROIT/CHONGQING, China — At a near-empty Hyundai Motor showroom in the Chinese mega city of Chongqing, the store manager is grumbling about his shortage of customers and a lack of bigger, cheaper SUV models popular in the world's largest auto market. Even with discounting of as much as 25 percent, his dealership was selling barely a hundred vehicles a month, said the manager surnamed Li. A nearby Nissan dealership was selling about 400 vehicles a month, a store manager there said. "The sales are simply poor," Li told Reuters. "Look at the Nissan store next door, they have tens of customers while we just have two." An hour's drive away is Hyundai's massive $1 billion manufacturing plant, which opened last year with a target to produce 300,000 vehicles per year. But with sales weak and the Chinese auto market slowing sharply, the factory is running at roughly 30 percent of capacity, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The sources asked not to be identified because the information was not public. Hyundai, the world's fifth largest automaker, declined to comment on the Chongqing plant's production or the showroom's sales but said it is "closely cooperating" with local partner BAIC to turn around the China business. BAIC did not respond to requests for comment. Hyundai's woes mark a major reversal for the automaker which was an early success story in China as it quickly and cheaply rolled out popular new models into a surging market. In 2009, Hyundai and partner Kia's combined sales ranked third in China after General Motors and Volkswagen. The South Korean duo now ranks ninth, and its market share in China was 4 percent last year, from more than10 percent at the beginning of this decade. Executives and industry experts say Hyundai conceded its once stronghold in the low-end segment to fast-growing Chinese rivals such as Geely and BYD. Foreign rivals not only defended their turf in premium segments but also kept pricing competitive for mass-market models, squeezing Hyundai's positioning as an affordable foreign brand, they said. In the United States, the world's second-biggest auto market, Hyundai's market share fell to 4 percent last year, near a decade low. Hyundai ran into problems in China and the United States for similar reasons: It missed shifts in consumer tastes, especially the surge in demand for SUVs, and it sought higher prices than its brand image could command, four Chinese dealers and half a dozen former and current U.S.

Recharge Wrap-up: Elio unveils E1A, Hyundai UK prices Ioniq

Russia could launch a hyperloop project as early as December 2016. Hyperloop One recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Summa Group to explore the possibility, but now, Moscow's Deputy Mayor and head of transport Maxim Liksutov says that the project will begin by the end of the year. "In the next few years we'll see a major breakthrough in the development of technologies which will facilitate our lives," says Liksutov, speaking at the Moscow Urban Forum. "Hopefully, hyperloop technology will be developed, and, as far as I know, the pilot project will be launched in December. We will see how the theory works in practice." Read more at Electrek, or learn more from RT. Hyundai has revealed specifications and pricing for the Ioniq EV and Hybrid for the UK. The Ioniq Hybrid SE will start at GBP19,995 (about $26,093 as of this writing), with the Hybrid Premium and Hybrid Premium SE starting at GBP21,795 ($28,442) and GBP23,595 ($30,791), respectively. The Ioniq Electric starts at GBP28,995 ($37,838) for the Premium trim level, placing it in competition with the Nissan Leaf, while the Premium SE starts at GBP30,795 ($40,187). The Ioiniq Electric should be also be eligible for a discount of GBP4,500 ($5,872) through the UK's Plug-in Car Grant. Hyundai will announce prices for the Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid before it goes on sale in 2017. The Ioniq Hybrid goes on sale on October 13, 2016, with the Ioniq Electric beginning a limited rollout before expanding sales to all UK dealerships in 2017. Read more at Electrek, or in the press release from Hyundai. India is launching a bus route fueled by 100-percent biodiesel. In an effort to help reduce air pollution (with the added benefit of saving on fuel costs), the Karnataka State Road Transport Corp. will operate the country's first all-biodiesel bus between the cities of Bangalore and Chennai. Last year, India's Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas removed its 20-percent biodiesel restriction on bus operators. Read more from Biofuels International. Elio Motors has built its first E-Series test vehicle, dubbed the E1A. Elio is touting the unveiling of its test car as a major milestone toward the launch of a fuel-efficient, three-wheeled production vehicle with a target price of $6,800.