... with huge growth potential and acquired experience of foreign operation. Hyundai, Korea’s leading auto company, decided to invest in the United States to avoid trade confliction and exchange rate risk. Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai, built production facilities in Slovakia to export cars to Western European markets and began to build production facilities in the Unite States. Increased direct investment abroad ...

The Korean auto industry plunged into a severe slump after the second largest assembler, Kia Motors, was brought under court receivership and the economic crisis swept across the country in late 1997. This year, production in the Korean automobile industry has dropped by more than 33 percent over the same period in 1997. As a result, the operating ratio in the industry plummeted to below 50 percent ...

Continuing through the Kia crisis and the foreign exchange crisis, domestic production of motor vehicles decreased significantly, and at present the automotive industry faces further difficulties based on the management of Daewoo Motors and Samsung Motors. Meanwhile, the automobile parts manufacturers that depended heavily on auto makers became troubled, and the parts supply system adapted towards ...