Korean: run for your money

South Korean products gaining ground in Japan (by Jun Iwawaki, Kyodo News)

South Korean auto and home appliance makers are making a big push into the Japanese market, contesting industrial areas that Japanese firms consider their specialty. The South Korean firms are slowly gaining Japanese consumers' support, with their cars and home appliances seen as low-priced but good quality. The firms are shaking off the image previously associated with their products: cheap, but you get what you pay for. Hyundai Motor Japan, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co., displays polished new models in its showroom in Tokyo's Toranomon district with tables and chairs prepared in a corner for visitors.

In business in Tokyo since 2001, it now sells six Hyundai models, including the top-of-the-line Grandeur with a 3,300cc engine. It is priced at about 3.4 million yen. "It does not pale in comparison with Japanese cars of the same class in terms of quality and equipment," a sales representative said. "But the price of the car is about 1 million yen less."

South Korea's largest home appliance maker, LG Electronics, also markets liquid crystal display television sets, washing machines and refrigerators in Japan, with sales totaling about 12 billion yen a year. Its line of products used to center on low-priced goods. But it is said to be changing its strategy, emphasizing being a maker of high value-added products, including driers with drums, in an effort to eliminate its image as a maker of cheap products.

South Korean products are already well-received in North America and Europe, threatening Japanese goods to some extent. Samsung Electronics, which is fiercely competing with Japanese makers for top spot in world share for flat-screen television sets, ranked 20th in global corporate brand value in 2006, according to U.S. economic journal BusinessWeek. It placed higher than Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which were in 26th and 77th places, respectively. Hyundai was lower than Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. but placed higher than Nissan Motor Co.

I bought a LG washing machine 3 years back and it works beautifully. I think Korean products are sometimes perform better than their Japanese counterparts...for example, the same-as-Japanese-quality Korean washing machine has to be sold for less in Japan in order to compete in the electronics market. Equating to quality at a great price, perfect for consumers like you or me. Though many Japanese products are of superior quality, I think competition in Korea and China will force Japanese companies think long and hard!