Hybrids Coming to Korea
Korean car companies just like their American counterparts are about to discover an area of the automobile market that the Japanese dominate and customers want:
Japanese car makers are planning to market hybrid cars in South Korea, a wake-up call for domestic competitors who are in the early stage of commercializing their environmentally friendly models.
The Korea Times said Honda plans to begin selling hybrid cars for the first time in South Korea by introducing the Accord Hybrid sedan in the second or third quarter of 2006.
It is a move which is expected to lead domestic car makers, such as Hyundai Motor and KIA Motors, to an earlier-than-expected sale of a hybrid. Hyundai is still a couple years away from marketing hybrid cars of its own.
“We will unveil the hybrid model in June. Motorists will meet the new cars by July or August,” a Honda Korea representative told the newspaper.
“As a leading hybrid vehicle producer worldwide, we decided to become the first player here,” the official reportedly said.
I think this is great news, just like I think it is great that the Japanese are flooding the US market with their hybrids. People are buying these cars and the Japanese companies are making huge profits off of them. This in turn is forcing US auto companies to make and sell hybrids as well, which means in the long run we will all be using less oil. Less oil means less money in the hands of idiot dictators such as the rulers in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
I think that this is definitely a part of the automobile market that Korea needs to hurry up and exploit. There are profits just waiting to be made. I think people are willing to pay a little extra for a hybrid because in the long run it will save them gas money, especially if they are getting the same performance from the vehicle as they would with a strictly gasoline powered vehicle.
