alien@gcc-opus.ARPA (Alien Wells) (01/29/85)
I suppose everyone out there has noticed that the days of Japanese *small* cars has ended. All the Japanese models have been upscaled, and the smallest Japanese cars are typically not brought into the US (ala Honda City). Granted, the main reason for this is the *voluntary* import quotas which encourage Japanese car makers to import expensive cars, but it seems there will soon be another reason, the Koreans. There are a number of large Korean conglomerates (spearheaded by Hyundai) which are eagerly eyeing the US car market, and planing to introduce true econoboxes (the type that the Japanese no longer sell) into the US. Some of these will be efforts to market their own vehicles, but there will be some joint deals as well. GM is rumored to be talking to Hyundai, and Mitsubishi itself is planning to move production of its Colt (sold through Chrysler) to Korea to, get this, LOWER ITS PRODUCTION COSTS! As a bit of background, Hyundai is a Korean company that is into just about everything, similar to the large Japanese conglomerates. (By the way, Mitsubishi, for instance, makes everything from Nikon cameras, cargo ships, and space rockets, to automobiles. I believe that Subaru and Isuzu cars are brands of the Fuji and Matsushita congolmerates.) South Korea seems to be pretty similar, economically, to Japan of about 10-20 years ago. They are already taking the low end of markets like TVs and VCRs from the Japanese. Japan seems to see its road to survival in moving into higher-end markets. Perhaps, in the long run, we are shooting at the wrong target in our move to compete with Japan. Alien