SoKo in the SOTU

With the passage of the Korea-US free trade agreement (aka KORUS FTA) being one of President Obama's key accomplishments in 2011, a year marked by contentious relations with an obstructionist Congress, it's no wonder he decided to highlight it in Tuesday night's State of the Union address:

My message is simple. It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away.

We’re also making it easier for American businesses to sell products all over the world. Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years. With the bipartisan trade agreements I signed into law, we are on track to meet that goal – ahead of schedule. Soon, there will be millions of new customers for American goods in Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Soon, there will be new cars on the streets of Seoul imported from Detroit, and Toledo, and Chicago.

I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products.

Putting Fords, Chryslers, and Chevys on Korean roads is a frequent theme of Obama's speeches, although everyone should realize by now that General Motors, in the form of GM Daewoo, is the third largest automobile company in South Korea, and it now comes with a Chevrolet nameplate.

But the very next thing in the address is a warning to unfair trading "partners":

And I will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules. We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration – and it’s made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do more. It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It’s not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they’re heavily subsidized.

Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders. And this Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets like Russia. Our workers are the most productive on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you – America will always win.

When so much of the rhetoric about the KORUS FTA revolved around supposedly unfair advantages that Korean car companies had over their American counterparts, I'm not too happy about the juxtaposition of trade with Korea and trade with China.

But that's me. I suspect that the same people who aren't sure which Korea is the good one might also think Korea is a city in China.

Indirectly, there were other mentions of Korea, particularly in reference to military affairs:

The renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe. Our oldest alliances in Europe and Asia are stronger than ever. Our ties to the Americas are deeper. Our iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history. We’ve made it clear that America is a Pacific power, and a new beginning in Burma has lit a new hope. From the coalitions we’ve built to secure nuclear materials, to the missions we’ve led against hunger and disease; from the blows we’ve dealt to our enemies; to the enduring power of our moral example, America is back.

Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. That’s not the message we get from leaders around the world, all of whom are eager to work with us. That’s not how people feel from Tokyo to Berlin; from Cape Town to Rio; where opinions of America are higher than they’ve been in years. Yes, the world is changing; no, we can’t control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs – and as long as I’m President, I intend to keep it that way.

I'll admit I've only read parts of the speech so far, but I plan to listen to it sometime in the next couple days. It seems to have been well received, even if much of it is unrealistic given the vehement opposition he faces in the House of Representatives.

I didn't vote for Obama, but I do like the guy a lot more than I do any of the GOP candidates left in the race, and I think Obama deserves more credit than he gets. We are in a much better place than we would be otherwise, he's gotten some very important things done, and I think he has the vision, the smarts, the people, and the drive to keep moving us forward.

Tea Partiers mockingly call him "The One," but he is, right now, the one I want.

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Kia has Black hamsters; GM has Korean guinea pigs

General Motors will launch its new Cruze5, a hatchback version of the Chevrolet Cruze, in the Korean market. This is another sign of the importance South Korea has in GM's global perspective.

Anyway, kind of a cool-looking car. Sporty hatchbacks seem to be making a comeback even with mid-sized cars. In Europe, Hyundai's flagship Sonata (called an i40 there) will also be available as a hatchback.

South Korea to be first to make the all-new 2013 Chevy Malibu

General Motors, which recently rebadged its South Korean operation by dropping the Daewoo name for the more global Chevrolet moniker, announced that its plant at Pup'yŏng (Bupyeong) will be the first in the world to make the all-new 2013 Chevy Malibu.

The goal is to expand GM's general footprint — and Chevrolet's specific presence — by pushing some of its more popular global offerings, and they think they have a winner with the Malibu:

Adding the Malibu may further bolster GM’s momentum in the Korean market. The automaker reported today that its Korean unit sold 71,608 vehicles in April, marking an 8.5-percent increase year-to-year, and a 5.9-percent increase over March. It’s unknown exactly how well the Malibu will pan out in the market, but GM points to strong digital interest — Korean fan clubs for the new model reportedly have over 30,000 members — as a predictor of things to come.

It is indeed a smart-looking car. GM also sells several Buick models, which it's marketing as upscale luxury vehicles, so we may see General Motors give Kia and Hyundai a run for their money.

The future is Miray?

The Wall Street Journal has a focus on General Motors "plastering" the Chevrolet name all over South Korea, with an explanation for those outside South Korea why the switch from the Daewoo nameplate took so long (and was so sensitive).

Meanwhile, The Independent has a report from the Seoul Motor Show talking about GM Korea's and Ssangyong's respective plans to take on the Hyundai-Kia juggernaut that controls three-fourths of the South Korean car market.

My favorite find today, however, was in USA Today, which highlighted auto insurance provider USAA's "best values" among automobiles sold in the US today. Four of the seventeen were Hyundai or Kia offerings: Hyundai Sonata (best midsize sedan), Hyundai Genesis (best large luxury sedan), Kia Sportage (best small SUV), and Kia Sedona (best minivan; it's the Kia Carnival in South Korea).

The list also includes the Chevrolet Cruze (best small sedan), which counts as partial credit as a Korean make.

How green is my balli balli

Several Korean or Korea-connected automobiles have made the greenercars.org's list of the Greenest Vehicles of 2011, even though they include gasoline-powered engines.

They are the Hyundai Elantra, the Chevrolet Cruze (some of which are made in South Korea), and the Chevrolet Volt (whose batteries are made by a division of South Korea's LG Chem, but in the Detroit area). In certain categories, other Hyundai or Kia vehicles, like the Sonata, also get good ratings.

The "meanest" cars include the F-150, aka the "Hillbilly Hummer," which Ford may want to foist on the South Korean market via the KORUS FTA.

Hyundai and Kia are riding high, but Detroit has stepped up their game

Coming out of 2010, from which Hyundai and Kia emerged with a whopping 21.7% increase in sales from a year earlier, the other big story is that Detroit has finally surpassed its Japanese competition to regain the number-one slots. Part of this is the ugly truth that even at $3/gallon fuel, many Americans still want to drive meaty gas guzzlers, but another side of it is that American carmakers are responding to a skeptical market.

Oh, and then there is that other factor. While a couple years ago, Toyota Motors seemed unstoppable, it turns out that it was Toyotas themselves.

From the Los Angeles Times:

For the first time in years, American nameplates such as Chevrolet and Ford outsold the Toyota brand in the U.S.

Sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles, which are American manufacturers' bread and butter, are on the upswing. Rental companies and commercial fleets, which favor domestic products, have been doing some heavy buying.

"Another factor is that the domestics are bringing out strong new offerings in other segments," said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds.com, the auto information company. "We have yet to see a coherent response from the Japanese.

"Toyota has had a brand image crisis, while Honda has taken a very conservative approach to market share," Anwyl said, and "may have left sales on the table."

Overall, Toyota Motor Corp. was the only major auto company to see sales decrease from 2009.

Well, if even Americans are starting to look at Chevys more favorably, maybe the plan to rebadge Korea-made GM Daewoo vehicles as Chevrolets isn't such a nonstarter after all. (Actually, I kinda like the idea, and it does remind me of way back when in Korea, when you could see Korea-made Fords plying the streets of Seoul.)

And speaking of Korean cars, this is what the above article had to say about Hyundai/Kia's changing fortunes:

Audi of America, Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister company, Kia Motors Corp., and Subaru of America all set U.S. sales records and gained market share despite the slow pace of auto sales overall. Volkswagen of America had its best year since 2003.

Analysts were impressed by the growth at South Korea's Hyundai and its Kia sibling. They sold a combined 894,496 vehicles in 2010, up 21.7% from the prior year and very close to Nissan's total of 908,570.

"We used to call the top makers the big six — the domestic three and the Japanese three — and now all of our analysis is based on the big seven and includes Hyundai," said Jesse Toprak, an analyst at TrueCar.com.

Hyundai has made the leap from a brand for people "who couldn't buy or afford anything else" to one that offers vehicles "people choose to buy based on the merits of the products," he said.

I think I'll print this out and post it in the window of my mother's Santa Fe.