Role Reversal: Toyota launches in South Korea to battle Hyundai
2010 Toyota Camry – Click above for high-res image gallery
In this topsy-turvy economy, Hyundai is making serious headway against its Japanese rivals. While the Korean automaker has surpassed Honda and Nissan, to name just two, Toyota remains in the lead by a wide margin. But that doesn't mean ToMoCo is about to sit around and wait for Hyundai to continue gaining market share. In fact Toyota is taking the fight right to Hyundai's doorstep by launching a range of vehicles in the South Korean market.
Against the whopping 72% share which Hyundai and its Kia subsidiary enjoy in their domestic market, Toyota is bringing over the Camry, Camry Hybrid, Prius and RAV4, joining the luxury offerings from Lexus that have been in South Korea for the past eight years.
At 34.9 million won (the equivalent of $29,900 in American greenbacks), the Camry enters the Korean market at a significantly higher price point than the 21.3-million-won Hyundai Sonata, but with 1500 orders reportedly already placed, Toyota figures it can sell 500 vehicles every month this year before ramping up to 700 per month next year. That's still a far cry from the 12,000+ units Honda sold in South Korea last year, but even an automaker as large as Toyota knows you have to start somewhere.
Gallery: 2010 Toyota Camry
[Source: The Korean Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
P.V. 5:20PM (10/20/2009)
Well, I hope this means that South Korea will start reducing its even-more-ridiculous-than-Japan import tariffs.
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Conundrum 5:34PM (10/20/2009)
Does anybody on AB know what South Korea's import tariff rate is? How about Japan? That seems like a steep price to pay for a Camry unless they are loaded.
hypermiler 6:13PM (10/20/2009)
@ P.V.
> South Korea will start reducing its even-more-ridiculous-than-Japan import tariffs.
Everyone's tariff's more ridiculous than Japan's, since Japan's auto import tariff is 0%.
jsjs 7:57PM (10/20/2009)
Uhh, South Korea's "ridiculous" import tariff is 8% - which is not much more than Canada's which is around 6.75%, and LESS than that for Australia and the EU (10%).
BoxerFanatic 5:21PM (10/20/2009)
Why is it that Toyota's headlight designs all look melted by design?
Otherwise, snore.
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Leclerc 6:32PM (10/20/2009)
Blah, Blah, same old ridiculous comments. Does it make you feel better? Keep the stupidity to yourself, or do you enjoy reading your own ignorant posts?
leunamme 6:52PM (10/20/2009)
@lec
seriously? why so aggressive..so Boxer thinks the design is a bit bland...it is only one of the best selling cars in america, therefore one of the most common, there for the most seen, therefore the most plain.
Camry's are by their nature non-offensive...they aren't gonna excite a youth market or be sporty...so he thinks they're bland, let it be.
Dana 9:04PM (10/20/2009)
Seems Toyota has forgetting the old lesson that to take over a home market, you have to beat them at their own game. I've sat in both cars to know that based on the prices Toyota is idiotically demanding, they are going to trip flopping right on their own face in south korea. Unless Toyota is only offering Camry's there in fully loaded trim, it doesn't feel right.
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Luis 10:05AM (10/21/2009)
The prices may seem high to us, but someone in Australia was explaining why his Lancer cost $33k "all-in" (more than $35k in USD)...it's not because it costs more to sell in Oz, it's just that that's the market can bear. They'd rather sell fewer cars at higher prices with fatter profit margins than more cars with lower profits per car.
cit09 5:29PM (10/20/2009)
One of the people I work with says her husband, who works for a Hyundai dealership, says that Hyundai's and Kia's rule the automotive scene. I wonder how well the Korean's will respond to Toyota's products. This will be very interesting! I also heard that Nissan and then Honda will start importing cars into Hyundai's and Kia's home turf.
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Big Mola 5:46PM (10/20/2009)
Koreans are smart enough to buy their domestic cars rather than send money across the sea to Japan.
bh 5:50PM (10/20/2009)
My father recently returned from a business trip to Korea. In the backgrounds of all his photos, you see nothing but Korean cars -- and there aren't even that many Korean cars to choose from. Variety is very low.
yosh 6:00PM (10/20/2009)
@Big Mola: This is true, Asians generally buy Asian cars - even when they live in the west. I really think Americans should take more pride in their country and buy domestic.
I bet 72% of cars sold in the US aren't domestic, like they are in SK.
RowFive 6:03PM (10/20/2009)
@yosh:
I think when domestic automakers start taking more pride in their product, Americans will buy domestic. Supporting domestic manufacturing shouldn't mean you have to buy inferior product.
Epsilon-Not 6:14PM (10/20/2009)
How does Daewoo do in SK? Are they considered a domestic automaker, or does the GM connection ruin it?
hypermiler 6:19PM (10/20/2009)
@ cit09
> I wonder how well the Korean's will respond to Toyota's products.
Nothing. YF sold 50K in its launch month and Hyundai's now choking with backlogs running into next year. In other word, order your car today and you might see your car in February next year. And Camry does look cheap compared to YF.
@ Big Mola
> Koreans are smart enough to buy their domestic cars rather than send money across the sea to Japan.
It is not that, but the differences in maintenance and repair cost. Imports cost 5 times as much as domestic models to repair and service.
hypermiler 6:26PM (10/20/2009)
@ Epsilon-Not
> How does Daewoo do in SK?
Terrible, because Daewoo's models aren't considered competitive. Korea is exactly the opposite of Japan, a market where D and E-segment gas guzzlers and SUVs rule the market and nobody drives around in Accent or Cruze with single exception of Matiz(Spark to you). Hyundai sells 40 times as many Accent in the US as it does in Korea, and people wonder why Hyundai even bother to offer Accent in Korean market, when they sell like 800 a year mostly as fastfood delivery vehicle.
Given that Daewoo's product line-up focuses on A, B, and C segment vehicles unwanted by Korean consumers thanks to GM's decision, you can see how troubled Daewoo is.
jsjs 8:04PM (10/20/2009)
" I wonder how well the Korean's will respond to Toyota's products. This will be very interesting! I also heard that Nissan and then Honda will start importing cars into Hyundai's and Kia's home turf."
Actually, Honda has been selling the Accord, CR-V, Civic, etc. for a no. of years in SK and has been the best selling import brand (Lexus is also already in the Korean market and fares well against BMW and Mercedes).
The Koreans buy a lot more Japanese autos than the Japanese buy Korean autos.
Epsilon-Not 11:20PM (10/20/2009)
Wait, so GM's South Korean sales are terrible because they're too focused on small cars to the exclusion of big cars?
When did South Korea become the bizarro-universe? :P
Farmboy 5:30PM (10/20/2009)
I would MUCH rather have a Hyundai than a Toyota.
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