More than 90 per cent of South Koreans buy and drive Korean-made cars. Kia, Hyundai and Genesis dominated, but Renault Korea Motors, General Motors Korea and KG Mobility make cars here, too. The statistics say that Hyundai Motors and Kia’s share of domestically manufactured car sales reached 91.
5 per cent in 2023 — and the streets of South Korea and (come to that) every car park I see on Jeju Island confirms it. It feels quite astonishing. I walk along a row .
.. Hyundai, Hyundai, Hyundai, Kia, Hyundai, Kia, Kia, Hyundai, Hyundai, Genesis.
I could repeat that all day. The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association predicts that of the 4.22 million cars that will be made in South Korea this year, 1.
7 million will be sold locally. South Korea has a population of more than 50 million. And I must comment how that I have found all this such a dominant feature of this place — even though Jeju, in the Korean Strait, 90km south of the main peninsula, is a particular case in that, being an island, getting parts, servicing and repairs is easier than for imported cars.
But how obviously good it is to have a domestic car manufacturing industry and to support it. And (of course), how noticeable it is that Australia does not. Australian car producers couldn’t reach the large economies of scale that are needed to reduce the cost of making each car.
While government tariffs were used to protect Australian car manufacturers, making their cars competitive with imports, free trade moveme.
