Daewoo L6...the low down (high up?)
 

Well boys and girls, I just got word on the L6 that we are gonna see duty in Daewoos to come (or whatever they'll be called in Norht America. To save time and space, just click the link and read away. Tango's got your back, ya'll...

Daewoo L6 Link...

Thanks Tango

hmmm right on

so does this mean its coming to the states...

Politics may have this engine make a US appearnace before any Daewoo-built vehicle that has it does. However, the news still holds true that Daewoo is sorting itself out in Europe and Korea first (and aparently are thinking of introducing the marque to Japan as well!!). This engine seems to be really well sorted out. A lot of useful technology (that curiously seems to be also in place on the ECOTEC engines). Thinks like chain driven camshafts, plastic intake runners, and a sump arrangement that actually assists in strengthening the block. I'm quite confident that it's not an ECOTEC but the similarities are interesting.

Daewoo is already in Japan just like Hyundai. I saw a Matiz in Kyoto last year on the same day I say a Hyundai Tuscan (Tib). Both Daewoo and Hyundai are listed in magazines that show all cars sold in Japan.

However, the Daewoo/Hyundai presence here is understandably small.

I stand corrected...just relaying what I read though. Foreign cars usualy get the rap in Japan though. Remember back in 1992...Peugeot sold a total of 4 cars in Japan!! Oh well...

Peugeot is now doing better. Foreign cars do have a following here and there is actually a magazine dedicated to only American cars. There is also a lowrider culture here as well.

American cars do have a bad reputation in one respect though (not all cars mind you, just many), they are seen as street gang or Yakuza cars. The Yakuza LOVES Cadillacs and even though a person could afford one, they won't buy it for fear of being associated with the Japanese mafia. Same with Chevy Caprice wagons and Astro vans. A lot of Japanese street gang members love these cars and "respectable" Japanese won't but them for the same reasons.

Another thing to think about is here in Japan, they have SHAKEN (vehicle inspections) that can cost over $1500USD, just for a mech to look at a car and fix it. Me? On the Cedric, the guy is trying to tell me it'll cost 100,000Yen and I'm trying to negotiate this down. You also have road taxes (size of car in kg and the size of the engine in cc) and this will cost me another 100,000yen next may 31st if I buy the Cedric.

Most foreign (read American) cars have LARGE engines that drink a lot of gas (100Yen to 110Yen per liter) and these large engines get HEAVILY HEAVILY TAXED. The Cedric is only a 3.0liter but the tax is over 50,000Yen alone. Then, the car has to be weighed too and then there's the cost of the tax on it. So, its not that Japanese people don't like foreign cars (they really do), its just too expensive to buy one and maintain it.*

Korean cars come with their own socio-economic and historical baggage. One need only read about WWII and the failure of both sides to resolve the past to understand why friction remains.

*A lot of crap is said in the USA about how the Japanese governmnet restricts trade unfairly and thats why American car sales are so low in Japan. Well, thats partly true, but there is something else going on as well. The Japanese govt screws its own people due to the corrupt marriage between Japanese automakers and the politicians in he Diet that have bouth and paid for. They want you to buy a Japanese car but they also punish you for doing so. SHAKEN is a bull**** system where auto companies make it more expensive to keep an old car than to buy a new one. And, the govt also makes money in bull**** taxes.

Japan is a small country in size evn though it has about 1/2 of the US population. Japan is only slkightly larger than California so there is only so much space for cars period. Old cars are dirt cheap, but keeping them isn't. This is why a R32 Skyline GTR can easily be had for under $9000USD. An R33 for under $16,000, and countless single turbo RB20 powered GTS-t variants for under $3000.. However, taxes and being raped by SHAKEN takes a toll.

That's what I was reading a few years ago. And the fact that US manufacturers simply refuse to build right-hand drive cars doesn't help much. Sure, Chrysler does an admirable job of conversions but by and large US manufacturers seem not to realise that a considerable number of the world's population drive on the LEFT and so require/prefer RIGHT-HAND-DRIVE cars...I hear that the Japanese actually prefer their foreign cars in left-hand-drive, buit that's an exception. Anyway, thanks for the clarification.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>tango:
That's what I was reading a few years ago. And the fact that US manufacturers simply refuse to build right-hand drive cars doesn't help much. Sure, Chrysler does an admirable job of conversions but by and large US manufacturers seem not to realise that a considerable number of the world's population drive on the LEFT and so require/prefer RIGHT-HAND-DRIVE cars...I hear that the Japanese actually prefer their foreign cars in left-hand-drive, buit that's an exception. Anyway, thanks for the clarification.</div>Actually, GM makes a boatload of RHD cars in Australia... Holdens, and I believe a lot of the european Opels are RHD. Vauxhall, too.