The Ascendance of Kankoku's Kars

[2triky]

[pheyton]

This is very evident on So.Cal freeways. As a salesperson I do a lot of driving and have been noticing a shitload of new Kias and Hyundais lately.

The two models I have driven still aren't as nice to drive as Japanese, but they will be there very soon. Design may take a bit longer though.

Their tires fuckin blow. I have shitty Hankook on my Toyota and Toyo on my Cube. Thinking about putting Toyos on the Toyota because they handle so nice.

[Taro Toporific]

When It Comes to Cars, Korea Is the New Japan
...more...

Just a couple of observations I made during my month-long roadtrip LAX-Poodle Springs-->Denver last June driving a new Hyundai Elantra...

The Hyundai was 15% cheaper than comparable Japanese cars but came with a no-quibbling, service-included, 10year/100,000mile warrantee.

Dealers of Japanese cars in Denver look as popular as the ones in Fukushima. "Nobody" buys new Japanese cars anymore.

[2triky]

The trend seems to be following the consumer electronics market where Samsung & LG have made significant inroads into markets that were once the almost exclusive domain of Japanese manufacturers.

[Jack]

I don't like what I'm reading in this thread people!!!

[Catoneinutica]

Taro's anecdote is pretty much in keeping with my rental car experiences in the US: Japanese cars have become increasing cheap-feeling: the driving experience is blah (driving a Prius is like driving a big appliance, and it's difficult to see out the back), the interior materials are flimsy and plastic-y, the styling is dull, duller, dullest. Korean cars like the Elantra seem to have the same, or almost the same, high level of quality that J-cars had back in the 90s and early 00s, back when they were "overbuilt."

Consumer Reports, the Golden Tablet of American car buyers, propelled J-cars into their great ascendancy starting back in the 70s. It's really a sign of the times that they no longer recommend the Honda Civic; it's simply no longer competitive, they say. Never thought I'd live to see the day when CR didn't gushingly review the Civic.

Korean cars are pushing aside Honda, Toyota, and Nissan just as relentlessly as Sony and Panasonic have been wiped out by K-makers

[Mike Oxlong]

And now the Samsung Galaxy S II is starting to flex it's muscle as a smart phone to be reckoned with.

[2triky]

And now the Samsung Galaxy S II is starting to flex it's muscle as a smart phone to be reckoned with.

Yup.

It's the only phone that's even remotely competing with the iPhone on a head-to-head basis.

5 million handsets sold in the first 85 days. Not too shabby.

[matsuki]

I don't like what I'm reading in this thread people!!!

Neither do the Japanese but they seem to be huffing something as all I hear from them is quality quality quality. Most Japanese cars are still better quality than Hyundai/Kia counterparts but that gap is getting smaller and smaller....and outside Japan where these kankokusya are available, the price/service seems to outweigh the quality difference and other issues. Don't get me wrong, I'll take a Toyota over a Hyundai any day...but consumers, in general, are being better catered to by the Korean manufacturers. Japanese companies used to do the same thing but now that they've gotten so big, they seem to be out of touch with most consumers and think they can dictate what people want rather than listen to what consumers say they want.

[james]

i keep wondering - with korea's internet penetration, gaming culture and strong consumer elctronics base, along with a capable IT sector - how long it will be until they try their hand in that hallowed bastion of japanese enterprise, the game console arena.

[Kuang_Grade]

This piece is a bit breathless with its stats...It isn't hard to get big percentage gains when your base is fairly small. As a point of compairson, Kia is selling about 2x of what Subaru is in the US and based on YTD sales, Kia has a whopping 4.3% market share. The same thing is happening with Volkswagon in the US as well....They are really pushing hard with affordable cars in the US and are up 20%+ in 2011.

In US sales for 2011, Kia and Hyundai are running about 670K YTD, European companies are running 650K, while J companies are running 2.5 million YTD, and US companies are running about 3.4 million YTD. Overall US, EU and K companies are kicking ass compared to 2010 while J companies are remaining stationary when compared to 2010. (Nissan and Subaru are doing alright, but Honda and Toyota declines are pulling down the whole J category to effectively flat).

http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html

However, I think the piece is dead on about improvement in safety and styling....Most of the Korean cars look good, are often fairly safe and are priced really well for the market. Judging by what I saw a recent auto show, the build quality isn't as high as Hondas, but is certainly close enough given the significantly cheaper pricing, esp on the Hyundais. The Sante Fe is in my consideration set if something happens to my current car

[Coligny]

And don't forget Renault-Samsung:

http://www.renault.com/en/vehicules/rsm/Pages/index.aspx

The SM7 is common-plateform with the Nissan Teana and Renault Lattitude.

And the QM5 is common-plateform with the Nissan XTrail and the Renault Koleos.

[matsuki]

However, I think the piece is dead on about improvement in safety and styling....Most of the Korean cars look good, are often fairly safe and are priced really well for the market.

Safety maybe....styling? Mmmmm me thinks not. They're certainly more exciting designs than what most of the competition is puttin' out but they aren't my cup o' tea at all. Alot of them look like bubbled out, curvy knock offs of other brand's vehicles. If you've ever been to Korea, a quick look at a busy freeway and you see all these foreign looking cars. Get up close and you realize they're all Hyundai knockoffs off foreign cars. Not all are bad but I wouldn't say the style is much of an improvement.

[Jack]

Just a couple of observations I made during my month-long roadtrip LAX-Poodle Springs-->Denver last June driving a new Hyundai Elantra...

The Hyundai was 15% cheaper than comparable Japanese cars but came with a no-quibbling, service-included, 10year/100,000mile warrantee.

Dealers of Japanese cars in Denver look as popular as the ones in Fukushima. "Nobody" buys new Japanese cars anymore.

Well, I like to look at the stats before I statt shooting from the hip. Here are the numbers:

YTD Jul 2011
GM 1,476,525
Ford 1,250,051
Toyota 943,590
Chrysler 751,958
Nissan 589,574
Hyundai 382,358
Kia 290,608
Mazda 143,102
Subaru 153,779
Mitsubishi 52,087

Source: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html

Japanese 1,882,132
Korean 672,966

Nobody is buying new Japanese cars is as big a horseshit as I've heard in recent months. The japanese are outselling the Koreans 3 to 1.