Axon's Automotive Anorak – Korea Advice

Maybe you love the style and excitement of Italian supercars and GTs, the grace, refinement and comfort of British luxury cars, the efficiency and precision of German machines, the economy and eccentricity of French cars, the safety and rationality of Swedish transport, the quality and reliability of Japanese machinery or the OTT bravado and rumble of American automobiles.

As a real petrolhead though, I will wager that very few of you, if any, get hot under the collar at the prospect of a South Korean car.  South Korea was one of the late comers to the world of passenger car production, with small volume manufacture for the domestic market commencing in the early 1970s, and low-impact exports not getting underway until the mid-1980s, by which time their Japanese near-neighbours had firmly established themselves in every major vehicle export market.

Although late to the party, over the last quarter of a century the South Korean motor industry’s successful and well-planned assault on world car markets has had more to do with its skills in production and marketing than the character of its products itself.

South Korean car firms, such as Hyundai, Kia and Daewoo, have displayed some fine looking concept cars over the years, but in the main, although well-equipped and reliable, their production machines offered through the early years to new car buyers were largely forgettable, with all the charm and charisma of a domestic appliance.

The huge commercial success of the South Korean automotive brands though proves that to most consumers value for money and dependability are all that they want or need, with a marque’s image and heritage being of little or no consequence whatsoever. The vast majority of new car buyers would far rather have a boring but dependable car that gets them from A to B, rather than a stylish but potentially temperamental machine from a admired but questionable car brand from England, Italy, France or the USA.

Take the Kia Sportage as an example. Now on its third facelifted generation, the latest Sportage is very strong on showroom appeal with its agreeable looks, long list of standard equipment, and an exceptionally long warranty. If you’re looking for the ultimate driving experience, like most of its rivals in the growing crossover SUV sector, the Sportage is somewhat lacking dynamically, but then driving dynamics are not really a top priority in this class.

In recently months, though, the Sportage has been the UK’s fastest-selling used car on franchised dealer forecourts, selling within just 13 days, as opposed to around 30 days for traditional British secondhand favourites such as the BMW 3-Series and Audi A3. The crossover Kia also appeared in eighth position in the British top ten best selling new cars in April, and the South Korean brand is now heading towards the top of the annual J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey. Quite a remarkable achievement for a marque that only arrived in the UK 25 years ago!

Back then, in 1991 the totally unknown Kia brand took its first tentative steps into the UK, and other exports markets, with the cringe-worthy Pride, a basic economy hatchback that resorted to reviving white wall tyres as standard to attract any attention at all. The Kia Pride was a re-badged version of the late 1980s Mazda 121, built for Mazda in South Korea, and also badged as the Ford Festiva and Aspire in the USA. The Pride followed Kia’s first production car, the 1974-1981 Brisa, a lightly modified version of the second-generation Mazda Familia, sold in Europe as the Mazda 1000/1300 in Europe. Bizarrely Kia also built both the Fiat 132 and Peugeot 604 under licence for its home market too.

Kia’s parent company, Hyundai, also presented its first true passenger car in 1974, the Giugario-styled Pony, which looked like a Morris Marina Coupe, but without the character!  Although it had assembled Ford Cortinas under licence since 1968, the Pony was Hyundai’s (and South Korea’s) first true assault on the global new car market, with the whole project set-up by senior ex-British Leyland employee George Turnbull. Today the Hyundai Motor Company has grown to become the fifth largest car marker in the world, with British Leyland long since expired. 

Other South Korean carmakers include Daewoo, which sold old General Motors cast-offs here briefly in the 1990s before being mysteriously re-branded as Chevrolet, and then withdrawn all together. Although Daewoo still exists in its home market, plus a few former Eastern Bloc countries, the only Daewoo-built model sold in the UK today is the current Vauxhall Viva.

Ssangyong is South Korea’s off-road specialist, finally getting a foothold in the expanding SUV market now, having bought the failing Panther British specialist sportscar maker in the 1980s. Samsung is the Country’s other carmaker, well known here as a communication technology brand, but unknown as car producer. The automotive division is now owned by Renault, some Samsung models have been exported, but branded as the Renault Fluence, Kalos and Captur.