Riding in a black and white (or silver and gray)

I'd been meaning to post on this for a while, this oft-repeated notion (see here, here, here, and here) that in Korea almost all the colors are black, white, silver, and gray, but since The Korean brought it up after his recent trip to South Korea, I thought I'd do a quickie post with a picture.

You see, while I agree that that is an apt description of cars in Korea, the thing is that it appears — from where I am at least — to be a more universal phenomenon. The above picture is in Honolulu, and it's not of a location I picked because there happen to be a lot of white, black, gray, or silver cars, but rather a location I had pre-decided before arrival to take a sample picture of, simply because I can get a lot of cars in the frame. (My vehicle is seventh counting from right.)

The picture below is in the other direction, the parking lot right behind me.

Note that in the first picture there are seventeen cars, and only three are some other color. And one of those is beige! The second picture is pretty much the same. Where I am at this moment in Orange County, I'd get almost the same results.

And if I'm right (and I always am), then this may be a case where we don't notice something that's around us until we encounter it outside our usual sphere. In this case, The Korean (from New York) when he's back in Korea, or all the bloggers and commenters who had written about it in the K-blogosphere. I myself didn't recognize it about Honolulu until someone started mentioning it about Seoul. (I think the phenomenon is also at play with racism and discrimination, sexism in various forms, work-related issues, etc., but that's a post for another time.)

The reason for this "problem," methinks, is that car manufacturers are trying to save money in the supply chain by providing fewer colors, particularly those that seem to be more popular. Every car I've owned, in fact, has been black (my current Honda Passport and the company Kia Carnival), white (my older Hyundai Sonata), or silver (my Acura Integra and my Hyundai Excel). I did once have a red Honda motor scooter.

Anybody else have a theory? Is it better resale value? I do see some color on Korean roads, especially if a certain smaller car looks especially cute (the green Matiz or the red Kia Pride come to mind), but otherwise it's that monochrome color pallet (there's an oxymoron for you).

UPDATE:
I decided to do actual homework for this. According to this site, nearly two of every three vehicles in North America are white, black, silver, or gray (Dupont had similar numbers). globally, those colors make up more than three-fourths of all cars. Meanwhile, unusual colors are less likely to be stolen.

I like charts.

This reinforced my belief that people might be going toward bland colors for some other practical reason, like theft, resale value, or getting ticketed. While I chose black vehicles because I think SUVs and minivans look cooler when they're the same color as the window tint, others might choose other inconspicuous colors so they won't gain notice from the fuzz.

Indeed, according to Snopes, drivers of white and silver cars get disproportionately fewer tickets than their population would suggest, but drivers of gray cars get more. Also, drivers of red cars are no more likely to get ticketed than those of other vehicles, so maybe I'll go that way next time.

The pink-magenta is all right, but I'm not digging the 'fro.

See the DPRK in a Chevrolet (or other Chinese-made GM vehicle)

From the Wall Street Journal, we get word of a Reuters story about a rally of sorts through the North Korean countryside:

China’s rapidly expanding network of highways, burgeoning obsession with the car and swelling stocks of disposable income have conspired to remake a once quintessentially American past time — the road trip — into the height of recreational fashion among monied Chinese weekenders.

Now it appears China’s road warriors have the pursuit to a place no American is allowed to roam: the trails and turnpikes, such as they are, of North Korea.

According the Reuters voice over on the CCTV report above, 100 Chinese tourists recently crossed the border to participate in the first ever “self-driven” tour allowed in the Hermit Kingdom. Because of the condition of North Korean roads, the report says, the convoy was limited to trucks with four-wheel drive. The tour looks to have included stops at a number of Potempkin hotels and restaurants. Total cost: $147 per person, or roughly 49 times the official average monthly income in Pyongyang.

One of the people interviewed notes that things appear to have improved since she was in North Korea a decade earlier. Her evidence? The hotels are nicer and there's abundant seafood.

Okay, then.

Still, that North Korea would allow this kind of thing at all is a possible indication of two things: (a) slightly greater confidence in allowing visitors to travel around unencumbered by handlers, even if the visitors are vetted from a friendly country, and (b) North Koreans themselves having greater exposure to outsiders and their trappings of wealth.

I say this because I've always felt that North Korean opening up — and I believe China is trying to force that upon North Korea — is a Trojan horse that could be a major contributor to the downfall of the Pyongyang regime as we know it. Like Dallas being broadcast into East Germany.

Has Korea's dream of an US-based electric car boom gone bust?

Last year we reported on the plans of a certain Korean company, CT&T, to build electric cars with existing technology right here in the Aloha State, but now we're getting word that the venture is in trouble. In fact, it's kind of a no-show.

From the Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

Korean electric car company CT&T made a splash in three states when it rolled shiny, tiny vehicles off big rigs and announced with smiling governors that it would hire hundreds of Americans to build them in new factories.

But those plans have stalled in Hawaii, Pennsylvania and South Carolina without anyone hired, any plants constructed or any electric cars assembled.

The South Korean electric car and golf cart manufacturer has apparently abandoned its pledge to the three states — without notice — and deserted its new U.S. markets amid financial difficulties, The Associated Press has learned.

Meanwhile, an American subsidiary, CT&T United, is in the process of separating from Seoul-based CT&T and hopes to take on North American ownership and attract more U.S. investors, James Park, vice president of the subsidiary, told the AP in a phone interview Thursday.

He said CT&T United is abandoning plans for facilities in Pennsylvania, but the company still wants to build in Hawaii and South Carolina. Park said the U.S. subsidiary hopes to raise $250 million to move forward with its plans.

But there have been no signs of any progress, state and business leaders said.

Since the governors of all three states attracted publicity and news coverage for CT&T, the company has gone silent. Its phone lines in Atlanta and Los Angeles have been disconnected, and the website for CT&T United remains under construction.

CT&T had said in May of last year it intended to build an assembly facility in Hawaii that would employ up to 400 people and produce up to 10,000 vehicles a year. Hawaii hailed the automaker as it has struggled for years to diversify its tourism-dependent economy and shed its image as a difficult place to do business because of high costs, taxes and red tape.

That doesn't sound good at all. Hawaii is hurting for jobs, and it so desperately wishes to break out of the economic mold that is dominated by tourism, the military, and the agriculture that still exists. Perhaps the US subsidiary will be able to work better if it isn't constrained by a parent company thousands of miles away.

Indeed, CT&T has promise. The Economist had glowing things to say about what makes it work and its potential in an island setting like Oahu:

Its flagship model, the eZone, is a quirky two-seater aimed at housewives, the elderly and those making the daily school run. It has a range of 100km and can clip along at 70kph if you really put your foot down.

It is a proper car, though. In particular, it is the only low-speed electric car to have passed international front and side crash tests, meaning that it can go on general sale. That will happen in Europe any day now, with a starting price between $8,000 and $16,000, and CT&T has plans to introduce the eZone into Hawaii (one part of the United States where journeys are, by definition, short) in two years’ time, when a local factory is up and running. It is also cheap to run. The firm claims that 1,500km of urban driving—about a month’s worth—will cost a mere $7 in electricity bills. ...

Critics of electric cars frequently argue that their viability depends on government subsidies. Not so the eZone. CT&T’s use of simple, existing technology, as well as its country of origin—the South Korean government has shown a distinct lack of interest in handing out cash to electric-car drivers—means it is an exception which overthrows the rule.

Point of information: there are in fact some places in Hawaii where you can drive pretty far. From Hilo to Captain Cook, going over the Saddle on the Big Island, for example, is about a hundred miles, and that's by no means the farthest you can travel on the Big Island. Maui also has some long drives, as does Oahu if, say, you're commuting from Haleiwa to Ala Moana.

But I digress. For the most part, 100 km (about 60 miles) is sufficient for most people on Oahu, or in Southern California for that matter. It's doable, especially at $4/gallon gas.

Okay, CT&T, do your part.

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.

Not a good year for car brands named after planets

First Saturn, and now possibly Mercury: Ford execs will decide later this year whether to, ahem, scratch Mercury off their list.

I'll bet 럭키金星 is now glad they never followed Samsung into the made automobile-manufacturing biz.

Korean company to open automobile assembly plant in Hawaii

It's not all that often that a really good Korea-and-Hawaii story comes down the pipeline. We had Michelle Wie, but she left for greener browner pastures. We were supposed to have an influx of South Koreans visiting the Aloha State once the visa-waiver program kicked in, but that has fizzled (so far). There used to be a huge flood of meth coming from South Korea and Taiwan, but locals have learned how to make it themselves. We had that large group of former ROK Marines who came to Pearl Harbor and initiated a bloody pinky-lopping protest against Japanese visits to Yasukuni Shrine last December 7, but I just made that up.

So it is rather cool that I can talk up Hawaii's first car factory, set up by a Korean manufacturer of green vehicles:

A Korean electric car manufacturer plans to open an assembly factory here within two years, employing hundreds and helping drivers go green.

The wave of electric cars heading to Hawaii will soon include these models by Korean maker CT&T.

But within a couple years, these cars will also be assembled here.

"Hawaii automobile dealers association-"I never thought i'd see the day that hawaii would have something like a car assembly factory," said David Rolf of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association.

The cars will begin arriving soon in completely finished form for now, while the oahu plant itself gets underway.

"We have begun our search for land to acquire. We have narrowed it down to about four sites. and depending on land acquisition we could see something in the area of 18-24 months for the fabrication of the facility," said Joe White of CT&T.

The company plans to spend 200 million dollars on the land and buildout of the facility which it says will also include a resort, theme park and showroom. its designers say it will be completely off the grid.

Hmm... I wonder if anyone told them that Oahu is a really crowded island. Frankly, I think this will be good for jobs, since right now the island's major industries are pretty much tourism and the military, so it would be good to see some expansion into high-tech manufacturing.

At the same time, though, I wonder if environmental groups will allow this to go through. Sure, it's green technology, but it's still a factory that takes up land and resources. After the SuperFerry was torpedoed (figuratively) by a Hail Mary legal challenge to the environmental impact study, I'm surprised any industry would be willing to try. Governor Linda Lingle is promising to expedite permits and what-not, but that's what got the SuperFerry in trouble.

(There is, I suppose, a chance for the SuperFerry to return to Hawaii if they complete the impact study [are they even trying?], but for now, the two catamarans are being used elsewhere, most recently for Haitian earthquake relief.)

I hope this all works out: Hawaii imports most of its energy needs, which makes it ironic a green automaker that produces electric cars is coming here, but Hawaii is also an excellent place to test out new solar and wind technologies that could be concomitant with rising demand for electric vehicles.

Anyway, best of luck to CT&T, and to whomever gets jobs there. Hawaii is glad to have you!