The Saehan Motor Company was a South Korean

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufacturer founded in 1976, which was born on the collaboration of Shinjin Industrial Company and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

to introduce their products on the South Korean market. Saehan was born on the former "General Motors Korea", which encountered difficulties when the South Korean market collapsed, following the first round of oil rises in 1973. This joint-venture, 50-50 between GM and Shinjin, consisted on a car assembly plant in Bupyong, a truck assembly plant in Pusan and a foundry at Incheon. In November 1976, Shinjin Motors faced financial problems and sold its 50% stake in Saehan to the Korea Development Bank (KDB). In 1978, the Daewoo Group acquired the equity stake and management rights from KDB. The company was renamed Daewoo Motor Co. in January 1983.

History

The company origins can be traced back to National Motors, a company established in 1937 in

Bupyeong-gu, Incheon Bupyeong District (Bupyeong-gu) is one of the 10 administrative divisions (eight municipal districts and two counties) that comprise Incheon, South Korea. Bupyeong-gu comprises an area of 12.35 square miles (31.98 square km), and has a populatio ...

, South Korea. Its name was changed to "Saenara Motor" in November 1962. Saenara was assembling and selling Datsun Bluebird P310s. Very first automobile company in Korea, Saenara was equipped with modern assembly facilities, and was established after the Automobile Industry Promotion Policy was announced by the South Korean government in 1962. Saenara Motor was then bought by Shinjin Industrial in 1965, which changed its name to

Shinjin Motor Shinjin Motors or Sinjin Motors ( ko, 신진자동차, ) is a defunct South Korean car manufacturer. A related bus manufacturer called "Shinjin Bus Manufacturing Company" was founded in 1955 as an independent company. It is now a part of Daewoo ...

after establishing collaborations with

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

. Shinjin's range included various Toyota models, such as the

Publica VEB Typoart was the only type foundry of East Germany. It was a state-owned enterprise (" Volkseigener Betrieb") located in Dresden. The foundry's most influential art directors were Herbert Thannhäuser (until 1963) and Albert Kapr (until 1987) ...

, T40 Corona and

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

. After Toyota's withdrawal from its Korea investment in 1972, Shinjin Motors started a joint venture with American

under the name "General Motors Korea" (GMK). Nevertheless, soon after the alliance, GM showed disconformity with Shinjin's management and in 1976 GM asked the Korean Government (through the US Embassy in Seoul) to find another partner. As the Shinjin Group was experiencing financial problems its shares in GMK were sold to the Korea Development Bank. As a result, the company's name was changed to Saehan Motor Company Ltd". GMK shortly sold their Rekord model under the GMK

marque A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

, together with the

Holden Torana The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 19 ...

based Chevrolet 1700. When GMK was renamed to Saehan, the 1700 became Saehan Camina. Saehan's range was composed of diverse GM models: the Saehan Gemini was based on 1974 Isuzu's Bellett Gemini, then replaced by the Maepsy (known as Saehan Bird for export), which was a development of the Gemini. It had a pickup derivate, the Saehan Max. Saehan also marketed the

Opel Rekord E The Opel Rekord Series E is an executive car that replaced the Rekord D on Opel's Rüsselsheim production lines in August 1977, following the end of the summer vacation plant shut-down. It shared its wheelbase and inherited most of its engines fr ...

and created later, on this basis, their Royale Series, composed of the Royale Diesel, Royale Automatic and Royale Salon models.

Models

Cars

* Camina * Gemini * Maepsy * Rekord

Buses

* BU110 * BF101 * BD101 * BL064

Trucks

* 8t Dump * 11t Cargo *

Elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

Notes

References

{{Korean automobile industry GM Korea Manufacturing companies based in Seoul Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of South Korea