And Hyundai isn't the only one trying to capture the lucrative luxury car segment by making full use of their acquired advanced technology. With the help of Daimler's E-Class rear-wheel-drive package, the Ssangyong Chairman W was unveiled as both a conventional sedan and a limousine version.
Like the Genesis, the Chairman W is another car which displays an excellent stance and is an overall handsome package. Anchored by 19-inch alloy wheels, the Chairman W showed enough promise to warrant success not just in Korea, but all around the Asian region. The only letdowns to the design were some surfaces that appeared to be too flat and overall refinement which was left wanting. Other aspects of the design however, closely resembled that of Audi, a successful European carmaker currently making waves in China and which the Korean manufacturer is actively targeting. Even with its price tag of $100,000 for the top of the range version, the initial response of the buying public is evidenced by healthy sales figures, which pulled Ssangyong out of the red for the first time in many years this past fiscal year.
While the exterior styling trend of the cars unveiled at Busan were more about getting the basics right, the interior styling appears to be more creative than the dynamic exterior design. Both the Genesis and the Chairman W display flowing, organic interior designs, with voluptuous center console ‘bulges' holding the overall design together. And both make use of heavy wood grain detail in their interiors, a non-offending yet effective luxury styling detail for the wealthy and older generation of buyers.
For the last decade or so, Korea's best selling cars have gotten bigger with time, from the Hyundai Sonata (D1 segment) and the Grandeur/Azera (D2 segment). And with GM Daewoo's L4X - essentially a rebadged Chevrolet Impala - yet another rear-wheel-drive large luxury vehicle will be jumping into the mix in the second half of 2008, making Korea the main battle ground for second-tier, affordable luxury cars in the bustling E-segment. This effectively reverses the trend we have seen in Europe and also bucks the trend towards smaller cars we are seeing in the North American market. If this trend is indeed a possible future preview, not just of the Korean market but also an indication of what we can expect from the Chinese market in a few years time, then global auto manufacturers should take a closer look at the design and buying trends we witnessed in Korea, which exports more than 70 percent of the 6 million cars produced there every year.
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