The North Korean automobile market is a perfect atypical case. This country living in self-sufficiency has a heritage poor in automobile matters but rich in anecdotes.
The story begins timidly with a whim of the Pyongyang Met in the 80s. Kim Il-Sung, a fervent enthusiast of the Mercedes brand who collected, decided to produce it locally. He imported copies of the Mercedes 190E type W201 so that his engineers could dismantle them to copy them. The result was not very flattering and the equipment was removed, such as the heating, all the headrests, the right exterior mirror ... and the engine was replaced by a 4-cylinder of GAZ origin (C.C.C.P.). It was produced in his Sungri factory which manufactured a few thousand copies of trucks under Soviet license for the needs of the State, as well as private vehicles (in small numbers and also derived from Soviet GAZ models), but nothing to do with mass production.
It was given the name Kaegsaeng 88 which means rebirth in Korean and 88 for the year of release 1988. It will proudly display its new logo on the grille and it will be renamed Pyongyang 410, then Paekdusa. That does not matter, few copies manufactured intended for the regime, then production abandoned.
It was not until 2000 that North Korea had its real large factory, which is also anecdotal. Pyeonghwa, which means peace in Korean, is the result of a joint venture between the North Korean state and the Moon sect, in order to provide North Korea with a car manufacturer worthy of the name. To explain this astonishing marriage, Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the "Unification Church". The brand initially manufactured Fiat Siena MK1s as well as garbage trucks. In 2006, Pyeonghwa entered into an agreement with Brillance. The Haise minivan, it is followed by the famous Zhonghua Elle sedan renamed "Hwiparam 2", because it is supposed to replace the Siena. Pyeonghwa's sales are estimated at between 1000 and 2000 vehicles per year, and these models are even exported to Vietnam (Mekong Motors). The vehicles offered cost between 10,000 and 30,000 dollars and most of the parts are manufactured in other countries before being sent to North Korea for final assembly. It plans to produce 10,000/year.
Kim Jong-Il being a Mercedes fan, Pyeonghwa obtained from Ssangyong the tooling for the first Chairman (which is derived from the Mercedes W124.) Since the end of 2006, it has been produced under the name "Junma".
The history of North Korean automobile production is there, but the history of the North Korean automobile is even more varied, especially with this story with Volvo.
40 years ago, Kim Il Sung, then head of North Korea, swindled Volvo. Indeed, he placed an order for a thousand Volvo 144 GLs for his part. The Gothenburg firm, seeing the order of the century, accepted an original type of payment which was zinc and copper as well as deferred payment terms. Volvo then said to resell the metals to make a profit, but once delivered, Pyongyang did not send anything at all. Today, Kim Il Sung's grandson, Kim Jong-Un in power, drives Mercedes paid for in cash and leaves a debt still claimed of 300 million euros and the Volvos are still running as taxis.
Comments