Dae-Who? The Great Universe Takes on AmericaRoad Test: 1999 Daewoo Leganza CDXRoad Test: 1999 Daewoo Nubira CDX SedanRoad Test: 1999 Daewoo Lanos SE HatchbackDaewoo's Future
Daewoo Motor America is the newest branch sprouting from the enormous fruit tree that is Daewoo. This Korean company, whose name means "Great Universe," was founded in 1967 by the company's reigning Chairman Kim Woo-Choong. Chairman Kim is an ambitious businessman who took $10,000 in borrowed capital and turned it into a $68 billion international conglomerate. Here in America, Daewoo is known for its inexpensive television sets, VCRs and other assorted electronic equipment. Daewoo Group's interests range from textiles to hotels to computers, but what interests us most is the automotive side of the business. Since late 1998, the company's latest products -- affordable cars -- have been making their way into the garages and covered parking spaces of the nation's entry-level car buyers.
Early in 1998, Edmund's was among six American automotive publications invited to South Korea to become acquainted with Daewoo. We Americans were not alone. Journalists came from Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Poland, India, Germany, Spain, Italy, Guadeloupe -- you name a language, and it was represented by more than a few nationalities. In fact, more than 500 automotive journalists from other parts of the globe were in attendance at a gala introduction of the motor company's latest offering: the Matiz, a small "A-Class" vehicle that will never be sold in the United States, due to its small stature and motorcycle-like motor.
But we did not travel halfway around the world to drive a car that our readers will never be able to purchase. Nor, as it turned out, were we intended to review the three cars that our readers may someday decide to own: the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza. The visit instead consisted of a series of tours through various production facilities in cities throughout South Korea.
The problem with this itinerary was that Edmund's industrial-engineering expertise is limited to the assembly of office furniture. We wouldn't know, for instance, if what we witnessed at the Kunsan, Ulsan or Changwon plants was in fact automobile manufacturing or the interior machinery of some elaborate new amusement ride at Disney World. The end product, however, always seemed to be a gigantic parking lot filled with brand-new automobiles, so we'll assume, for the sake of argument, that Daewoo owns some pretty fancy car-building robots, and it looks as if they're using them to build a lot of cars.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's take a look at Daewoo's manufacturing history. Daewoo is not new to the business of building cars. Their experience began in 1984 as a cooperative venture with General Motors, when the LeMans was manufactured overseas by a then-unknown Korean company. The Pontiac-badged LeMans, introduced to the U.S. market in 1988, soon became famous, or rather infamous, for its shoddy workmanship, poor build quality and general unreliability. The LeMans was a huge failure of subcompact proportions, and when quality issues had not been resolved by 1992, General Motors discontinued their relationship with the contracted builder, Daewoo.
Chairman Kim Woo-Choong is not a quitter. While quality problems for the failed LeMans were blamed on Daewoo, engineering problems were subsequently blamed on General Motors. Chairman Kim agreed to buy out GM's 50-percent stake in the LeMans, and then proceeded to invest in engineering -- to learn from the mistakes of the past. Recognizing the potentially high profits related to the mass production of automobiles, Chairman Kim set a new track for his conglomerate. The Daewoo Group regrouped, researched the matter in earnest, and invested a lot of money into new automotive facilities and processes.
Touring several of Daewoo's automotive production facilities - and a few other random manufacturing plants, including shipyards and military tank plants, led us to the conclusion that Daewoo is either serious about making cars or they're trying really hard to impress gullible visitors. However, since this article is not appearing in Transportation Manufacturing Today magazine, we're not sure what to think. But if anyone needs any military equipment or transport ships, we know just the supplier.
Daewoo executives often say things like, "The key to success in the car business is America." The truth is, if an automobile manufacturer can succeed in our sophisticated market, it can succeed anywhere. So Daewoo Motors has put itself up to the ultimate test: survival in the States. Chairman of Daewoo Motor Co., Mr. Kim Tae-Gou, said: "The U.S. market is a passport to any other market in the world. We would like to be tested and validated from the U.S. market." And that is, in brief, the reason for entry.
Daewoo wants to be one of the world's top-10 car manufacturers, volume-wise, and they want to accomplish this feat in the near future. Without a decorated racing history (no, the LeMans never competed at the race of the same name) and without even a single successful attempt at building cars, how can a company develop products quickly and expect to sell them in large numbers? While there may not be a specific formula for creating cars, the one that Daewoo has used is an excellent example of how to build a large inventory in a short amount of time.
For an automobile to sell in any quantity it doesn't hurt to be physically appealing. The exterior design of the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza trio was handed off to automotive design experts at Italdesign. Platforms on which to base new cars also help speed up the process of automotive development, and Daewoo just happened to have an old Pontiac LeMans blueprint hanging around for use on the subcompact Lanos. Suspension systems for the Nubira and Leganza were brought along by expert consultants from Porsche and Lotus. And if good help can't be contracted, it can be bought: Daewoo's own vice president of development and engineering is none other than Dr. Ulrich Bez, formerly of Porsche. Powertrain development can also be time consuming, unless the engines and transmissions are sourced from another manufacturer -- in this case, Holden of Australia.
After a new vehicle is designed, it must of course be built. Daewoo Motor Company has production facilities in several Eastern European countries and throughout Asia that will, as early as 2002, account for a production capacity of more than 2.5 million units. Now it becomes clear how Daewoo plans to be one of the top-10 automakers in the world. Keep in mind that European nations will have access to the super-economical Matiz, which should account for a large percentage of total sales.
Last year, our impressions of the Daewoo cars were limited to a total of 30 minutes behind the various wheels of a five-speed Lanos hatchback, a five-speed and an automatic Nubira sedan, and an automatic Leganza sedan. That's not much time to gain a lot of insight, and the "road test" portion of our week-long tour of Korea felt not unlike a half-hour shopping spree. So, in order to provide driving impressions of these cars, we were forced to bide our time long enough to conduct three follow-up road tests of the Daewoo product trio, here on our home turf.
Early in 1998, Edmund's was among six American automotive publications invited to South Korea to become acquainted with Daewoo. We Americans were not alone. Journalists came from Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Poland, India, Germany, Spain, Italy, Guadeloupe -- you name a language, and it was represented by more than a few nationalities. In fact, more than 500 automotive journalists from other parts of the globe were in attendance at a gala introduction of the motor company's latest offering: the Matiz, a small "A-Class" vehicle that will never be sold in the United States, due to its small stature and motorcycle-like motor.
But we did not travel halfway around the world to drive a car that our readers will never be able to purchase. Nor, as it turned out, were we intended to review the three cars that our readers may someday decide to own: the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza. The visit instead consisted of a series of tours through various production facilities in cities throughout South Korea.
The problem with this itinerary was that Edmund's industrial-engineering expertise is limited to the assembly of office furniture. We wouldn't know, for instance, if what we witnessed at the Kunsan, Ulsan or Changwon plants was in fact automobile manufacturing or the interior machinery of some elaborate new amusement ride at Disney World. The end product, however, always seemed to be a gigantic parking lot filled with brand-new automobiles, so we'll assume, for the sake of argument, that Daewoo owns some pretty fancy car-building robots, and it looks as if they're using them to build a lot of cars.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's take a look at Daewoo's manufacturing history. Daewoo is not new to the business of building cars. Their experience began in 1984 as a cooperative venture with General Motors, when the LeMans was manufactured overseas by a then-unknown Korean company. The Pontiac-badged LeMans, introduced to the U.S. market in 1988, soon became famous, or rather infamous, for its shoddy workmanship, poor build quality and general unreliability. The LeMans was a huge failure of subcompact proportions, and when quality issues had not been resolved by 1992, General Motors discontinued their relationship with the contracted builder, Daewoo.
Chairman Kim Woo-Choong is not a quitter. While quality problems for the failed LeMans were blamed on Daewoo, engineering problems were subsequently blamed on General Motors. Chairman Kim agreed to buy out GM's 50-percent stake in the LeMans, and then proceeded to invest in engineering -- to learn from the mistakes of the past. Recognizing the potentially high profits related to the mass production of automobiles, Chairman Kim set a new track for his conglomerate. The Daewoo Group regrouped, researched the matter in earnest, and invested a lot of money into new automotive facilities and processes.
Touring several of Daewoo's automotive production facilities - and a few other random manufacturing plants, including shipyards and military tank plants, led us to the conclusion that Daewoo is either serious about making cars or they're trying really hard to impress gullible visitors. However, since this article is not appearing in Transportation Manufacturing Today magazine, we're not sure what to think. But if anyone needs any military equipment or transport ships, we know just the supplier.
Daewoo executives often say things like, "The key to success in the car business is America." The truth is, if an automobile manufacturer can succeed in our sophisticated market, it can succeed anywhere. So Daewoo Motors has put itself up to the ultimate test: survival in the States. Chairman of Daewoo Motor Co., Mr. Kim Tae-Gou, said: "The U.S. market is a passport to any other market in the world. We would like to be tested and validated from the U.S. market." And that is, in brief, the reason for entry.
Daewoo wants to be one of the world's top-10 car manufacturers, volume-wise, and they want to accomplish this feat in the near future. Without a decorated racing history (no, the LeMans never competed at the race of the same name) and without even a single successful attempt at building cars, how can a company develop products quickly and expect to sell them in large numbers? While there may not be a specific formula for creating cars, the one that Daewoo has used is an excellent example of how to build a large inventory in a short amount of time.
For an automobile to sell in any quantity it doesn't hurt to be physically appealing. The exterior design of the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza trio was handed off to automotive design experts at Italdesign. Platforms on which to base new cars also help speed up the process of automotive development, and Daewoo just happened to have an old Pontiac LeMans blueprint hanging around for use on the subcompact Lanos. Suspension systems for the Nubira and Leganza were brought along by expert consultants from Porsche and Lotus. And if good help can't be contracted, it can be bought: Daewoo's own vice president of development and engineering is none other than Dr. Ulrich Bez, formerly of Porsche. Powertrain development can also be time consuming, unless the engines and transmissions are sourced from another manufacturer -- in this case, Holden of Australia.
After a new vehicle is designed, it must of course be built. Daewoo Motor Company has production facilities in several Eastern European countries and throughout Asia that will, as early as 2002, account for a production capacity of more than 2.5 million units. Now it becomes clear how Daewoo plans to be one of the top-10 automakers in the world. Keep in mind that European nations will have access to the super-economical Matiz, which should account for a large percentage of total sales.
Last year, our impressions of the Daewoo cars were limited to a total of 30 minutes behind the various wheels of a five-speed Lanos hatchback, a five-speed and an automatic Nubira sedan, and an automatic Leganza sedan. That's not much time to gain a lot of insight, and the "road test" portion of our week-long tour of Korea felt not unlike a half-hour shopping spree. So, in order to provide driving impressions of these cars, we were forced to bide our time long enough to conduct three follow-up road tests of the Daewoo product trio, here on our home turf.
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