They say imitation is the best form of flattery, right? It’s being reported today that GM is carefully “examining” for uh, “inspiration,” Hyundai’s Assurance Program.
However, per Mark LaNeve, GM’s Vice President of North American sales, service and marketing, Hyundai’s current program just isn’t good enough for them:
“We’ve looked at Hyundai’s program extensively, and we’ve examined some possibilities of what we might do… We’re not crazy about the Hyundai program because all it does is protect your credit from being wrecked. You’ve still got to turn in your car. And when you lose your job, you still need a car to find another job.”
So, all it does is protect your credit and you still have to return the car? Okay, but what more can you ask for? Give the car away if someone can’t make payments? Gee, and I thought Hyundai’s plan was drastic.
All this positive buzz, plus a comparatively great month of February, has led Time magazine to produce a ridiculous headline titled “Hyundai: America’s Most Successful Car Company” which leaves me speechless. I like KT’s headline better. Hey, this is Chung Mong-koo we are talking about here! This guy can’t be smart or honest enough to be this successful, right?
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
have u seen the remains of detroit?
i’m not sonagi, but i frankly feel sad for you commies.
this will be america if printing money fails.
time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1882089_1850985,00.html
super sonic white flight
It is ironic that the KT… the freak’in KT of all publications… would have an English language article of better journalistic integrity than Time.
lady who fled michigan, teaching us about racial harmony
Hey, let’s not underestimate the wisdom of mr. enforcer Rahm Immanuel — every crisis is an opportunity.
Is the new elantra really as good as they say it is?
wjk,
If you are such a great Christian, shouldn’t you be a little more gracious?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gracious
… because, you can be a real ass sometimes.
Not the best witness for JC… that is… if you care.
Chung Mong-koo is that prototypical Korean businessman who is both a criminal and an incredible business leader. Give the man credit where it’s due…he’s taken one of the worst brand-names in automotive history and turned it into a company that’s actually starting to make very decent cars.
Hyundai may remain the butt of late-night jokes for another decade, but its Genesis alone is a truly well-made car.
DLB
Yes DLB,
Sometimes it takes a dictator…
“Is the new elantra really as good as they say it is?”
It’s Consumer Report’s recommended pick over the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. This is the second year in a row for that model.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/02/28/079194.html
The new 2009 Elantra Touring is a totally different car, based on the Hyundai i30 which has been receiving rave reviews in EU and Australia.
Consumer Reports also makes it a top pick for this year.
http://onlocation.consumerreports.org/applications/CROSHOWS/AutoShows/New-Car-Preview/2-Model.asp?ID=743
I also can’t help thinking in terms of economics and wonder if demand for hyundai is going up or remaining stable in a recession because it’s perceived to be an inferior good.
Some of the later models that Hyundai is putting out seem really interesting to me. The Genesis, Genesis Coup, Elantra Touring, the KIA Soul, KIA Ceed(in Europe). They’re finally making cars that looks interesting and drives with a sporty flare. I’ll be seriously considering them the next time I buy my next car. Good job Hyundai.
wangkon, please refrain from pulling the C-card on me.
Stranger things have happened. I now actually respect Gerry Bevers way more than ‘JK’. Apparently, Bevers is way smarter than JK as well.
And in fairness to Chung Mong-koo the criminal, a lot of behavior which is classified as civil misconduct in the United States is addressed by criminal statute here — so as to reserve to the State the starring role in the economy and society.
“…please refrain from pulling the C-card on me.”
I don’t do it nearly as often as you do it for yourself.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/11/10/playboy-miss-november-grace-kim-plus-hangeul-comes-to-playboy-centerfold/#comment-200413
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/01/20/virginity-for-sale-only-37-million/#comment-209228
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/02/28/open-thread-89/#comment-213826
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/10/31/obama-says-he-will-support-the-fta/#comment-198959
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/10/31/haunted-seoul-where-are-the-ghosts-now/#comment-198950
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/12/08/damn-foreigners-taking-over-advertising/#comment-203661
You only bring up your Christian background when it comes to what you preceive as moral rules and regulations, particularly ones of the sexual variety. When it comes to showing courtesy to others your “Christian” values are almost totally absent.
wjk, you are not so much a Christian as you are a Pharisee… a rude and irrelevant class of person who hides behind rules and regulations you may put way too much importance on. Jesus spent most of his time on earth fighting little sociological leaches like you.
So… wjk is a typical Christian in U.S.?
i think if the rules and regulations you neglect are mentioned 100s of times, they are worth more than you would like to acknowledge.
grace is not a free to sin card.
i am not a Pharisee.
I am a REAL Christian.
I can criticize her anyway I want, and I am doing it relatively politely.
How would ‘God’ feel if the people who are serving as ‘single’ deacons in your church were sleeping around?
Dab: they were better off being lay people in the congregation.
Sex alone?
No, no, no. That is why I supported McCain.
It’s just incredulous one person here can come up with the idea that ‘he’ll stop attending church’, and rather be doing ‘charity work’ on Sundays, and that will jive with God. You are worshiping humanitarianism, not God in that instance.
You can call me what you want. I know the basics pretty well, because I actually read the book. Come on, claim that you did as well. I don’t think you did. Bumfromkorea, most likely not, either.
that person, being Netizen Kim.
Sonagi is not worth defending. Some of her default answers are the following:
1/ there is no racism in America
2/ Japanese occupation of Korea wasn’t that bad.
3/ eat grass fed beef
etc.
wjk,
I read the Bible in its entirety. I even read parts of the New Testement in the original Koine Greek. Very interesting language Koine Greek, but any ways.
What troubles me about you is that yes, you do choose your words when you criticize people here, but despite how you write things and the words you use, we all know that the intent you have inside is just as venomous as any one else here. It doesn’t matter if you use the specific words that an IHBB would use, if you harbor those same feelings deep inside, it’s the same thing… particularly to the omnipotent being you profess faith in. Dressing it up in obtuse language and bizarre sentence structure isn’t fooling any body.
Also, beating people over the head with your own sense of righteousness (which you do all the time) isn’t the answer either. Ask yourself, would you be the one casting the stone at the adulterer? I think you would be. Honestly, from what I read from you, I think you’ll be the schmuck who beats his chest and talks about how much he fasts in the synagogue rather than the one who puts oil on his face and doesn’t tell anybody. You are a pharisee because you bring up your righteousness like a shiny badge rather than prove your virtue with acts of good character.
Seriously, who cares if you stay a virgin until marriage if you hold hate and covetousness in your heart? All sin is equal in the eyes of God. Dressing it up in the manner that you do is even worse.
Jesus once said (in Matt 20:16, Mark 10:31, Luke 13:30, among others) that heaven will not contain the people we think it will contain and you’ll be suprised who will be let in and who will be kept out.
Your sense of Christian virtue is at best incomplete and at worse- false.
I’ve also read – and studied the bible, as well as Buddhist scripture and a great deal of other mythologies. While it is indeed pathetic that religious “adults” feel the psychological need to retreat into infantile delusional states, what is really disturbing is how they use these fantasies as justifications for acts of intolerance and inhumanity.
Mythologies? You mean “world religions” right?
Y’know, as someone who is married to a woman who grew up in Seoul and now lives in New York and who, as a couple, are considering moving to Seoul, I’m baffled by this thread. Why exactly is this about Christ? I have been to Seoul and seen the big red crosses all over town and I still don’t get that, but what this has to do with the head of a car company is missing me – very possible I missed some article leading into this.
Also, if Koreans really want to succeed and be happy, give up the whole god thing. Worship as you wish, but don’t push it too hard; there really is nothing there.
wangkon, good for you, dongpo.
I’ll take some of that.
I still think you misjudged.
Osteen, I like.
Do you know Hank Hanegraaff? There’s a bona fide, fightsy Pharisee if you ever were interested in a modern version.
I’m far from it.
Mizar5, go to xxxx.
even the 2006 Elantra’s are legit alternatives to the Civic and the Corolla.
great balls you have cm,
you’re planning to buy a Hyundai 10 years later, after your Japanese car dies, after rolling it for 10+ years.
highly doubt it.
cm, for a guy who calls for martial law in Korea in this day and age, and a guy who contributes ALL of his auto expenses on Japan, you have great balls in taking a risk in Hyundai’s.
all of Hyundai’s cars have been legitly good since they promised the 10 year thing. No stupid idiot would ever use that just to increase sales. They would be bankrupt by now, if they didn’t know what they were doing.
Do you suppose that when Hyundai takes back a car under this deal, it will be on the next ship for the Middle East?
I hear that Hyundai is making better cars, but when you see the crap they sell here, it doesn’t give you much confidence that the export model is really better.
When I saw the prices of Hyundai & KIA the last time I was in the States, they are virtually giving them away. It’s a good thing the average Korean doesn’t know how little they charge for the basic same car overseas. They are being truly ripped off here ( Korea ).
every Korean in Korea knows they are being ripped off by Hyundai. Smaller engine, higher price, shittier warranty, less stuff included in the base model, etc.
Some allege Korea is using Korean consumers to help its overseas operations.
I don’t know about that.
Nothing survives if it’s not self sufficient.
You get a better car in the US, under the same maker.
Soochoolyong was always the better version in export mercantilism Korea.
This was true, whether it was Hyundai, Nongshim, PulmoowonSamsung, etc. How the ROK govt justifies this, I have no clue. They should consider reversing it, seeing how miguk gyopos overwhelmingly voted for the party that is least likely to support KORFTA.
i hear in Japan, they have cooler, better cars versus the ones they sell in the US.
“Do you suppose that when Hyundai takes back a car under this deal, it will be on the next ship for the Middle East?”
No. I’ve bought two Hyundais in the Middle East in the last year, a Tucson and and Accent. Both of their build dates as stamped on the vehicle bodies are within 4-6 weeks of when they were delivered to me.
These cars have all the style and personality of refrigerators. But they’re totally solid and reliable.
Isn’t GM asking for more money from uncle sucker?
I think the Hyundai assurance program is a very good ideal. The brand name has a very bad image despite the cars being excellent quality. This program may change the minds of those people who would never have given the brand a try. Once they start driving it and find out for themselves that these are good cars, then the word will go out to others. When the economy comes back, Hyundai will be in a good position with a solid reputation.
Article on Hyundai in today’s Economist:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13235107
Hey Wangkon, that buddy jesus…uncalled for man. Simply unacceptable. Not nice at all. You can give a good REAL christian like me a heart attack by whipping out a buddy jesus like that out of nowhere.
Please be careful!!
Would you prefer angry Jesus?
http://fatpenguinblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/jesus.jpg
…or how about NRA Jesus?
http://www.gun-one.com/Jesus%20with%20AR.jpg
…but personally, I like this 예수님 the best…
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RLVpU-2j8h0/SKkMT_us4yI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/YjTh6haBey0/s1600/asian%2Bjesus.jpg
Now DATS what’s up. Hahahaha!
What car would Jesus drive?
I wish there would be a Korean movie about the life and story of the charismatic Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju Yung. I think such a movie, if well made, would be very fascinating.
I want to know how they would do the (apocryphal?) scene where Chung goes to the Bank of London, shows them a turtleship on a South Korean won note and get’s funding to build his shipping business from scratch. What a hustler!
That would be interesting.
#36
Whether that anecdote was true or not in reality, they must include it in the movie just as a movie about Benjamin Franklin would HAVE to have him flying a kite in a lightening storm, George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree, or an apple falling on Issac Newton’s head. Furthermore, any movie about Chung Ju Yung would almost certainly have to have a talented actor to play the role of Park Chung Hee as a main character as well. The movie would cover a time span from the times of the Japanese occupation, through the Korean War, Vietnam, and well into the 90s. It would be a historical film as well as a biography and an ambitious undertaking.
It would need AT LEAST one love triangle thrown in there somehow too.
A random agashi with terminal cancer…
Overly strict parents who tell Chung to be a “doctor” instead…
I’m I missing anything else?
Overly strict parents who tell Chung to be a “doctor” instead…
Actually, Chung’s strict father wanted him to be a farmer instead and stay on the family farm. 17-year-old Chung had different ideas, stole some cash, and ran away to the big city.
He once labored as a stevedore to carry granite stone for the construction of Korea University. Later in life, while receiving an honorary doctorate from Korea University, he quipped that he didn’t realize that all he had to do was help build the university, without attending any of the lecture halls as a student, in order to get a degree.
One of the remarkable characteristics of Chung as a leader was that unlike most other Korean industrial tycoons, Chung rolled up his sleeves and often worked side-by-side with his men in construction. He liked to joke and banter with his men, down to the rank and file.
There is plenty of material for a great movie or even a TV drama series. Now that I think about it, I can’t imagine why this wasn’t already done.
Another source of inspiration for a possible movie about Chung would be David Halberstam’s excellent book The Reckoning.
there has definitely been some discussion in various industries here, notably automotive and tech, to perhaps start implementing programs similar to those in korea that cut hours and increase furloughs instead of laying off more people. not being in korea, i wonder if they are indeed attempting to retain labor while cutting hours as many orgs did in 97.
# 40,
That book was written in 1986 and obviously David’s warnings were ignored.
http://www.automotiveaddicts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/gm-epic-fail.jpg
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