When you arrive at Incheon/Seoul Airport, you will begin to see a whole new set of badges on cars that looks vaguely familiar. No doubt, by now, you’ve heard of Hyundai. Maybe even Kia. There was a short U.S. stint with Daewoo, which now is a GM subsidiary. Ok… how about Samsung? And what the heck is a Ssangyong?
Ahh… Korean companies, much like the Japanese counterparts, are conglomerates – or rather, a group of companies.
Mitsubishi, for example, is a company of three. They consist of Mitsubishi Bank, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Mitsubishi logo is three diamonds arranged in a star like formation. Even the Heavy Industries division is divided into three companies – Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Atomic Industry, and Mitsubishi Chemical.
So, what does all that mean?
Well, Hyundai is the largest company in Korea making everything from household appliances, automobiles, supercomputers, to the world’s largest buildings. Daewoo was the second largest company in Korea, but was dismantled after the great Asian economy meltdown in 1997-1998. Parts of Daewoo were sold to other Korean and foreign companies, the same fate was shared by Ssangyong. Kia is the oldest true car company in Korea, started in 1944 as a bicycle parts manufacturer, which today is a sporty/cheaper version of Hyundai vehicles. The brand name that we recognize the most, in the U.S. households, Samsung – is a part of Nissan/Renault joint venture.
Enough of the history lessons…
What you will see in Seoul is the damnedest thing, a phenomenon of sorts. There are only three colors – Black, White, and Silver/Gray. Okay, Koreans really, really love grayscale – at least for automobiles. If you drive anything else outside of the grayscale, then you’re truly a rebel. The Korean drivers make it very easy for the car companies, they just need to paint the entire production in those three colors. Let’s say you’re a maverick and want a blue car, then you probably have to special order yours.
Koreans, by nature, don’t like to stand out. They never are the ones who call out for attention, or stray from the mainstream. Being humble and ultra-competitive, as a nation, somehow translates everyone driving in a black-and-white automotive world…
A strange phenomenon, indeed.
Photos courtesy of Melanie Valdez.
-KF