South Korean Car Brands

The Asian economic tiger, which is South Korea, today positions itself in the top ten exporters and importers on our globe. Following the Japanese model of hard work, Koreans are famous in the world for innovation and high technology. Consumer electronics and cars are export products that meet the needs of millions of consumers.

Hyundai Motor Company

Founded: December 29, 1967
Founder: Chung Ju-yung
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
Parent: Hyundai Motor Group
Website: www.hyundai-motor.com

The origins of Hyundai go back to 1947, when Hyundai Engeenering and Construction was founded by Chung Ju-Young, the largest construction company in South Korea at the time. The Hyundai Motor Company was separated as part of the concern in 1967, already operating under the name of Hyundai Group, whose main activity was the production of cars.

Kia Motors

Founded: December 1944
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
Parent: Hyundai Motor Company
Website: www.kia.com

Kia Motors started to exist in 1944 (as Kyungsung Industrial Co.) with the manual production of bicycle parts and steel pipes. The first completely self-produced bicycle was made in 1951 and the company changed its name to Kia Industries. The next step forward was the production of scooters (C-100) in 1957.

Renault Samsung Motors

Founded: 1994
Headquarters: Busan, South Korea
Parent: Renault; Samsung
Website: www.renaultsamsungm.com

The Korean company Samsung Motors was founded in 1994. The automobile company headquartered in Busan. In 2000 the automaker was bought by Renault and renamed Renault-Samsung Motors. The first model of Renault Samsung Motors was the SM5 car.

Alpheon

Founded: 1983
Headquarters: Bupyeong, Incheon, South Korea
Website: www.gm-korea.co.kr

Alpheon was a GM Korea brand in its own right, and Alpheon Sedan is the only brand ambassador. The car is a redesigned copy of the American Buick LaCrosse sedan. Production began on August 9, 2010, and ceased in 2015 after monthly sales fell below 500 vehicles.

CT&T United

Founded: February 2002
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
Subsidiary: CT&T United, Inc.

CT&T United is one of the largest electric microcar manufacturers. The company was founded in 2002 and to this day CT&T micromobiles are actively sold all over the world. The most famous models of electric cars are “eZone” and “cZone”. It is the only company whose electric cars have officially passed a series of crash tests.

Asia Motors

Founded: 1965
Headquarters: Gwangju, South Korea
Parent company: KIA Motors
Website: www.kia.com

Asia Motors Co. Ltd is a small South Korean company specializing in the production of jeep cars, light vans, medium and heavy trucks, and multi-seat vehicles. The manufacturer existed from 1965 to 1999. The headquarters is located in Seoul. In 1965, the first off-road vehicle M-38A1 was assembled under license. For a long time Asia Motors was one of the leaders in the Asian off-road industry, and its Asia Rocsta model was sold all over the world. In addition, the company also made buses. The brand has been owned by Kia since 1976.

Daewoo Motors

Founded: 1983
Headquarters: Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea
Parent: General Motors
Website: www.gm-korea.co.kr

Daewoo is a Korean company founded in 1937 that is present in many industries, including the automotive industry. The origins of Daewoo Motor date back to 1965 when Shinjin Motor was founded, seven years later transformed into GM Korea and finally in 1992 into Daewoo Motor. Due to financial difficulties, Daewoo Motor declares bankruptcy and in 2002 the company is taken over by GM (GM DAT).

Galloper

Founded: 1991
Headquarters: South Korea

Galloper – a former South Korean manufacturer of SUVs, sports cars and minivans based in Seoul, operating from 1991 to 2003. The brand belonged to the South Korean Hyundai Motor Group, under which the Hyundai Galloper model was offered in the Middle East and in the countries of South America and Europe.

General Motors Korea (formerly Daewoo Motor)

Founded: October 17, 2002
Headquarters: Incheon, South Korea
Parent: General Motors (48.19%)
Website: www.gm-korea.co.kr

It is the third largest automaker in South Korea. It primarily manufactures cars under American brands, but sometimes creates Korean ones, for example, Alpheon. Under this brand, a “koreaized” version of Buick LaCrosse was sold, and later it went under the Daewoo brand.

Cammsys

Founded: 1993
Headquarters: South Korea
Subsidiary: Weihai Sunyang DNT Co.,Ltd.
Website: www.cammsys.net

It is a company that is mainly engaged in the production of camera modules for mobile phones and vehicles. In addition, the company manufactures and supplies electric vehicles, as well as biometric and information security products, including fingerprint modules.

Daechang Motors

Founded: January 25, 2010
Headquarters: South Korea
Website: www.edaechang.com

The company was founded in 2010, has gained fame thanks to the production of microelectric vehicles. The company has also developed electric vehicles and electric buses that are supplied to overseas markets.

Doosan

Founded: 1896
Founder: Park Seung-jik
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
Subsidiaries: Bobcat Company, MORE
Website: www.doosan.com

It  is one of the largest South Korean financial and industrial groups. An international corporation with a wide range of industries and a network of representative offices around the world. Since acquiring Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery in 2005, Doosan has also focused on the construction equipment market. It all started with excavators and wheel loaders. Now the South Korean company ranks 8th in the world in the production of earthmoving and road construction equipment.

DPECO

Founded: 1998
Headquarters: South Korea
Website: www.dpeco.com

DPECO manufactures and sells auto parts and recently developed the Potro electric mini-truck using proprietary technology.

Edison Motors

Headquarters: South Korea
Website: rideedison.com

The company was established in 1998 and is the first South Korean manufacturer to export over 100 electric buses to India. The company is capable of producing 2,500 electric buses per year. The company was originally an electric vehicle division run by local fiberglass manufacturer Hankuk Fiber, and then resold twice.

Genesis

Founded: 4 November 2015
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
Parent: Hyundai Motor Group
Website: www.genesis.com

Genesis was established in 2015 and is one of the youngest premium brands in the global automotive industry, owned by Genesis Motors (which is a division of the Hyundai Motor). The lineup of the brand includes several models of sedans (including their sports versions), as well as SUVs. The main sales market for this brand is North America, and the brand is also represented in the markets of Russia, Asia and the Middle East.

Gukje Motors

Founded: 1955
Ceased operations: 1964
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea

Gukje Motors – a former South Korean passenger car manufacturer based in Seoul, operating in the years 1955–1963. Gukje Motors was founded by three brothers in 1955 in Seoul as South Korea’s first passenger car manufacturer.

Ioniq

The Hybrid, Plug-in and Electric family of compact cars with electrified powertrains joined the South Korean Hyundai brand lineup in early 2016 and immediately entered the market.

Keohwa

Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea

This is a South Korean company that assembled cars under a Jeep license. In 1986, Keohwa was bought by Ssangyong Motors.

Proto Motors

Founded: 1997
Defunct: 2017
Headquarters: South Korea

The Korean automobile manufacturer Proto Motors began operations in 1997. At the moment, the company manufactures sports cars, electric vehicles, as well as bus equipment or the domestic market of South Korea.

Saehan Motors

Founded: 1976
Ceased operations: 1983
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
Parent organizations: General Motors, Daewoo

The Seahan Company existed from 1977 to 1983 and was a division of GM Korea, which sold various models of Korean, American and Japanese cars.

Shinjin Motors

Founded: 1955
Ceased operations: 1984
Headquarters: South Korea

The Shinjin Company existed from 1954 to 1984 as an assembly plant for General Motors, and then was bought out by Daewoo and became one of its divisions with the liquidation of its own brand.

SsangYong Motor

Founded: 4 March 1954
Headquarters: Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Parent: Mahindra & Mahindra Limited
Website: www.smotor.com

The Korean company began its adventure with the automotive industry in 1954 under a completely different name. SsangYong merged two companies: Ha Dong-hwan Motor Workshop (founded in 1954) and Dongbang Motor Co (founded in 1962). In mid-1963, they merged to form the Ha Dong-hwan Motor Co. The name changes to Dong-A Motor in 1977. The Ssangyong brand (which in Korean means twin dragons) appeared only in the late 1980s, when the manufacturer specializing in off-road vehicles was acquired by Ssangyong Business Group.

Tata Daewoo

Founded: 2002
Founder: Natarajan Chandrasekaran
Headquarters: Gunsan-si, South Korea
Parent organization: Tata Motors

Daewoo is a South Korean manufacturer of passenger cars. The company was founded in 1937 as National Motor, and in the following years its names and owners changed. The company was also involved in the production of electronic equipment, incl. televisions. It was taken over by the Daewoo Group and renamed Daewoo Motor in 1982.

Oullim Motors

The company is a specially created sports car division of Proto Motors, a manufacturer of special-purpose bodies on Kia and Hyundai chassis.