Asian+Studies+Final+Hanz+H

= Car Production in Korea, China, and Japan = In the old days European countries and America were the dominant countries in producing automobiles. Country such as germany own prestigious car companies such as Audi, BMW, Benz, VolksWagen, Porsche. And America own's Chevrolet, Dodge, GM(general motors), Ford, Jeep, Hummer, and many more. However this is not the case anymore. Asian car manufactures have caught up against them. Now a days China is the world's largest automobile producing country in the world after Japan. Now transportation is crucial in present society. There are variety of cars now a days such as Sedans, SUVs, Coupe's, Hatchbacks, Sports. In the old days people didn't care about all the details of the car. It just had to operate when you press the accelerator. Now there are a lot of options and more people strive for better technology and luxurious or fast cars. With those options prices are much more expensive. As european cars continue to develop better technology in cars, Asian companies are catching up as well. Korean cars such as Genesis and Equus are going against European luxurious cars. And Japanese who already have great technology in automobiles are better than European cars. And soon European cars will be nothing better than Asian cars.

= Korea = Automotive boom started after the 1990’s when Korea introduced the first developed car called pony. After the Korean auto industries have been developing rapidly. Now Korea is the fifth largest automotive producing country and the sixth largest automotive exporting country in the world. Two main Korean car companies are Hyundai and Kia.



Avante (Elantra) became the best selling compact car in America and Canada. (2011)
- Until January 2011, the Toyota Corolla was the best selling compact sedan for it affordability and its performance. However when Hyundai launched its new Elantra everything changed. The New Elantra gained popularity for its performance, sharp looking design, comfortability, dependability, and affordability. It is the perfectly rounded compact car ever built so far. And because of the Toyota recalls which included Corolla, the Elantra gained more popularity for its dependability. When Hyundai announced that they will be introducing a new Elantra the reaction from the critiques weren't very positive because the previous models was a fail. However when Hyundai introduced it at the motor show with all the specs, design, performance, and safety. It is also economically friendly. It was sold more than the rival cars, Corolla and the Civic. Now it is the best performance and the best selling compact car through out U.S and Canada. Not only best selling in foreign countries, it is also the best selling compact car currently in South Korea. Korea has really made a big step in producing good automobiles which was proven by this event. It is not easy to be ranked first in both U.S and Canada, competing against Japanese, American, and European cars. This event will continue to motivate Korean car companies to make better cars and this can be considered as the first step in proving that Korean cars are very well made and to bring up the reputation of Korea cars.

Korea held 2011 Seoul Auto Show at Kintex. (2011/4/01 - 10)


In 2011 which started at April 1st - April 10th, was held in Kintex which is in Ilsan. It was the eight Seoul motor show after 2009. More than 20 manufactures all over the world participated. Each company presented their new cars and more than ten thousand people visited this wonderful event. Especially Korean car companies Hyundai and Kia presented some of their new cars. The theme of the 2011 motor show was on environmental friendly. There were a lot of hybrid and electric cars presented. At this motor show Hyundai presented Sonata hybrid and genesis concept hybrid. Kia showed their new concept hybrid Naimo, Ray, Forte Hybrid, and Optima Hybrid. Toyota presented the Camry Hybrid, Corolla Hybrid, and their new Prius which is the best selling hybrid car in the world. Honda showed their hybrid concept sports car. Now a days eco - friendly cars have been gaining more popularity for its efficiency. = = = China = = Chinese automotive industries have grown since 1990’s like Korea as well. Now it is the largest automotive producing country in the world. However China was often accused of copyrights and having to make cars similar designs with other European company. China now a days is taking interested in eco-friendly cars and many companies such as BYD and Chery are developing hybrid and electric cars. =

Chinese Car Manufacture BYD enters US markets and settles in Los Angeles. (2011)
BYD (Build Your Dreams) is a Chinese alternative energy auto maker. They are currently working on developing eco-friendly cars, both Hybrid and Electric. In 2011 BYD made a big step in order to improve their companies future by entering the US market. BYD chairman Chuanfu - Wang joins Antonio and Arnold to discuss about the establishment in Northern headquarters in downtown LA. Chinese BYD is looking forward to this because this will secure its companies future and lead it to a positive development. BYD is leading company in China and even to the world to make a sustainable and renewable energy products while saving consumers money. In 2011 BusinessWeek even ranked BYD as the 8th most innovative companies in the world. BYD is the only automobile company be placed in the top 50. BYD sold 450,000 vehicles in 2009. And by entering the US market, their target is to sell 700,000 vehicles in 2011. BYD hope to expand their market and spread the news of their company by taking a step in the US market. However many critiques say that BYD has to really reach is potential in order to be recognized because even though it is a leading company, the technological aspects still fall behind from companies such as Toyota or Honda. And also BYD has a bad reputation in designs because most of their cars are identical to existing cars. Such as the BYD T6 looks exactly like the Porsche Cayenne. Because the market is very competitive, in order for BYD to succeed they will have to prove that their new electric cross over E6 is good as or better than someone the Japanese car's and even American cars such as the Volt from Chevrolet.

= Japan =

Japan was always a dominant country in producing automobiles, in 2008 it was the largest automotive producing country in the world, however in 2009 the position was taken by china. Japanese cars were not over priced, reliable, and popular in the 1990’s. However in the present days the market has been slightly declining because of the earth quake and the Toyota recalls, while other Asian companies have been improving.

More Toyota recalls in 2011.
In previous years the number one car manufacture in the world, Toyota had to recall about nine million cars for gas pedal problems in 2010. The gas pedal problem has been continuing since late 2008 because of the stick gas pedal where the gas pedal was jammed in the floor mats because it wasn't designed perfectly. There was another recall for the accelerator problems where there were unintended accelerations. Because of this mis-engineering many families and people died through accident. Recently and American family claimed to go against Toyota in court. Recalls were made in America, Europe, and Asia. In 2011 Toyota recalled additional 2.17 million vehicles. Not only it was the Toyota brand but also Lexus which is a luxurious sub branch company of Toyota had the same problems as well as Pontiac. The two main models which had the most effect was the Toyota Camry and Corolla. This lead to a great downfall in the Toyota market. Not only it affected the company in a bad way but also gave bad reputation. The dependability that consumers had in Toyota automobiles fell. This event gave an opportunity for other Asian car companies to rise, such as Hyundai and Kia. At that time Hyundai introduced the new Sonata and Elantra (Avante). And Kia introduced the new Sportage, Optima (K5), and the Cadenza (K7). Toyota hopes not to seek anymore problems and improve again to prove that buying a Toyota is worth it.

**Toyota, Honda, and Nissan shuts plants because of the earthquake.** (Honda power plant after the earthquake)

Japan earthquake that hit with a magnitude of 8.9 not only affected the people but industries as well. All power plants of the three most important car manufactures Toyota, Nissan, and Honda closed down because of the earthquake. This not only affected domestic sales but exports to foreign countries especially US. Toyota could not export including their branch company scion. As for Honda, they couldn't export any accord sedans or their branch company Acura. Nissan had the least damage but still couldn't export their branching company infinity. Many of the produced car was flowed and destroyed by the tsunami. However there weren't a lot of damage in the factories. Toyota's factory in the city resumed its production as normal. However even though there weren't damage at the Toyota factory itself, there were damage at Toyota's suppliers factories. Honda also had some problems with the plants as well. The Honda headquarters had difficulty contacting their plants at the time of the occurrence. Nissan also shut down its factories. Small fires broke out in two plants but was quickly extinguished before it lead to a larger problem. Despite all these downfalls in Japanese automobile manufactures they are quickly coming back and developing again.

= Self Evaluation = = 1. What did you contribute specifically to your project? =

I did all the research I possibly could to find the current news of Asian car manufactures. I went searched through each countries auto news websites in both google and korean search engines. In all of these entries I have also put a little bit of my thoughts about the event or the problem. I also found many pictures that relate to these entries.

2. How successful do you think you conveyed your research to your audience?

I think I did the best I could in order to tell people what is happening, what it means, how is it going to affect other things. I did make the paragraphs detailed enough for the reader to understand and have a knowledge of the event.

3. What would have made your presentation more successful?

A verbal presentation might be more helpful in this case because it is easier to understand when someone is saying something about it then just reading something. Also it would have been a little bit more easier if it was done by a keynote.

4. How successful do you think your technology-based materials were in conveying your research?

I chose very reliable sites that are not blogs or web cafe's. I chose sites where it only discusses and dealt with automobile problems around the world and also each auto news in specific countries. Even though some of the information was from the knowledge that I already had but all of these at great amount of internet research in order to have the accurate information.

5. What would have made your technology-based materials more successful?

If there were graphs and more specifications would have helped my technology based materials more successful. Also finding more information about China would have helped.

6. What did you learn from this project? Submit any other comments after this question.

I learned a lot about current development of Asian car manufactures especially China. I only knew China cars for their plagiarism in design with European cars but through out this research I learned how big Chinese car manufactures are. I also learned about the continuing development of Korean cars. I only knew that the Elantra was the best selling compact in US not Canada. I also got to learn about the popularity now a days in eco friendly cars and the technology applied to them. I learned why Chinese car manufactures are suddenly developing eco friendly cars and I never knew Korean manufactures have been working great amount of technology in Eco friendly car as well. I never knew that Toyota was the largest car manufacture in the world. =

= = Work Cited =

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