Chinese Invasion to Korea!
Of course, it is not war but in mid bus
market.
Typically Korean passenger market was
dominated by Hyundai-Kia as 80%
Firstly, it was collapsed by German premium
passenger cars.
With advanced power train, safety feature and
rigid body, it gave drivers with fun of driving and fuel efficiency. In the meantime,
American, Japanese as well as other are totally losing their faces.
But commercial truck, situation is a little
different.
Heavy cargo truck market is not completely
controlled by Hyundai-kia.
From the beginning, imported truck was
pretty good, just like Benz, Man, Volvo, Scania and so on.
Overall, to survive imported car in Korean
market is quality focus as key point.
Surprisingly I noticed that this lesson was
taken by Chinese bus manufacturer Sunlong.
They equip cummins engine, ZF 6 step transmission,
color TFT cluster, premium passenger seat, cabin air purifier and so on. They declared
70 improvements than competitors. Also, most of important parts are not Chinese
components, it comes from US, EU and Korea.
Even price is expensive than Hyundai county
bus(competitor cars), i.e., 61 mio KRW vs. 66 mio KRW(sunlong bus).
Still 200 cars were sold until 1 half of 2014. But
considering complete mid bus market only 8K/year, it is not bad.
More interesting point is that Chinese cars try to aim premium
proposition in Korea.
Personally I like their choice. It must be
best solution.
Let’s see, what will be happen!
