Why Japanese cars are not popular in Korea

Dear CoaH,

What was surprising about my trip to Korea this time is that, unlike in North America, Japanese cars are a rarity in Korea. It is not easy to see Japanese cars like Honda, Toyota, Nissan, or Mazda in Korea. While it is hard to imagine North American roads without Japanese cars, Korea is a definite exception. On one occasion, I carefully analyzed cars on the road. Every ten cars that passed by in front of me, it was hard to see one or more Japanese cars. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) and Kaizuyu Data Research Institute, Japanese cars accounted for 1.1% of domestic new car sales in 2020. Japanese cars accounted for just one of the one hundred new cars sold in Korea.

I asked my friends who live in Korea why they don't buy Japanese cars. I suspected anti-Japanese sentiment at work. But they all said it had nothing to do with that. The real reason was that domestic cars are just as good as Japanese cars, and they saw no need to buy the Japanese made. Besides, the Japanese cars were more expensive due to the import tax, and after-sales service was not readily available like the Korean made. So, it only made sense to buy domestic cars. If they wanted to buy a foreign car, they said they would prefer a German one.

In the meantime, my friends told me that Korean cars had made tremendous progress in design and performance, and the gap with Japanese cars had narrowed significantly, unlike before. If you buy a Japanese car at the same price, you must downgrade it by one level. So, from the consumer's point of view, there is no incentive to buy a Japanese car. For the same amount of money, it only makes sense to buy a Korean car over a Japanese vehicle in Korea (In Japan, there is hardly any Korean car on the road for the same logic.)

North American consumers are yet to be convinced that Korean cars are just as good as Japanese cars. It will take some time for people to realize that Korean cars today have way more quality than those manufactured twenty or thirty years ago. It has better value for money in terms of design, performance, after-sales service, and price. But people must see it to believe. Visiting the Motherland, I am proud and grateful that the people of Korea have worked so hard following the Korean War (1950-1953) and the constant threat of the communist North. I pray that Korea will continue to move forward as a competent, exemplary, and humble nation under God's protection.

Blessings,

Pastor Minho Song