Foreign Carmakers Roll Out Red Carpet to Busan Fans
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
Remaining in the shadows of homegrown makers for years, imported automobile brands looked determined to take active steps to attract Korean customers as they stole the initial limelight with aggressive displays at the Busan International Motor Show, which kicked off Friday.
A total of 68 models from 14 foreign companies are on display, only four shy of the ones from local makers even with American marquees unavailable this time. Two brands, Bentley and Porsche, made their first appearances.
Nine vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Jaguar made their debut to automobile lovers here during the show, with one model introduced for the first time in the world. In 2006, import makers didn't even have their own booths at the show.
Honda showed its New Legend sedan in a world premier at Busan. The previous edition from the Japanese automaker, Legend, was also unveiled at the same venue two years ago for the first time.
The vehicle, which is to go on sale here in late June, is bigger than the Legend with a brand new 3.7 V6 VTEC engine punching out a maximum 307 horsepower.
Other head turners included Audi's flagship sports sedans R8 and TTS Roadster, Mercedes-Benz's high-end edition of its SL 63 AMG and Jaguar's XF, a mass production model of the C-XF concept car.
Volkswagen's high-performance Golf R32 and Touareg R Line, a sporty and elegant sports utility vehicle, were also on display as well as BMW 750Li Special Edition, a 7-Series sedan equipped with cutting-edge customized accessories.
Local automakers also presented their ambitious new productions.
Hyundai Motors' Genesis Coupe, making its second appearance following March's New York Motor Show, was one of the most attention grabbing vehicles of the day. The company announced the sports coupe will be launched here in September, about three or four months earlier than its debut on overseas markets.
Kia Motors introduced its ambitious sports coupe concept car Kee, which was produced under the direction of new German chief design director Peter Schreyer, along with its newest model Pro-cee'd and three versions of Soul, another mini crossover concept project. Ssangyong Motor also unveiled Chairman W, a luxury sedan.
A couple of interesting attempts also caught attention. GM Daewoo displayed a 1915 Cadillac model, which uses the same kind of engine as the first royal vehicle in Korea. The Cadillac Limousine built in 1918 by General Motors, which was one of the first two vehicles introduced in Korea, belonged to Korea's final King Sunjong.
The special display was meant to reflect the history of automobiles by selecting vehicles representing the company's past, present and future in a celebration of GM's 100th anniversary, the automaker said. It picked the premium SUV Winstorm MaXX and Chevrolet Equinox, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, as ``present'' and ``future'' representatives, respectively.
A special bus was also on display, as Daewoo Bus Corporation presented its FX212 model, remodeled inside and out by local singer Kim Jang-hoon for use as his tour bus.
The fourth edition of the motor show, themed ``Automobile, It's a Culture Beyond Life,'' will continue through May 12 at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center. Over 100,000 people came to the show on Saturday, its public opening day.
Busan, host of the event, is aiming to attract 1 million visitors as well as 2,800 foreign buyers for $1 billion in total deals.