By Lee Hyo-sik
Dabonda, which makes black boxes for vehicles, has filed for court receivership after losing money because of “excessive” marketing and “reckless” expansion, industry sources said on Monday.
The company, which market the boxes as “a lawyer in a car,” asked the court on May 1 to initiate court-managed corporate rehabilitation. The court is expected to decide soon whether to grant the request.
A Dabonda official confirmed that the company had filed for court receivership, but said Dabonda would continue to market its products and develop new ones. The company would decide what to do after the court decision.
According to audit reports, Dabonda posted a 3.4 billion won operating loss in 2013, even through its revenue reached 65.7 billion won as it spent large sums on marketing and other activities designed to boost sales.
The company has yet to announce its 2014 results, but is widely expected to incur larger losses because it has lost market share to competitors in the increasingly saturated domestic market.
The market share of Dabonda ― once Korea’s largest maker of black boxes for vehicles, is believed to have fallen to 20 percent last year from 30 percent in 2013.
Over the past few years, Korean motorists have installed black boxes en masse to help handle accidents and prevent car theft. Because most drivers have bought a black box, manufacturers are finding it increasingly hard to sell their products.