Kian tila-auto voitti testin

on laadukas materiaaleiltaan, mutta heikko tekniikaltaan. Eikö tuossa ole ristiriita?

"Nuo korean ihmeet tehdään halvalla ja ilman sen kummempaa suunnittelu työtä."
Tiedätkö jotain auton suunnittelusta ja valmistuksesta vai jauhatko vain aikasi kuluksi paskaa ? Jälkimmäinen väittämäni on ilmeisesti tosi.
Auton valmistaminen yllä olevan väittämäsi mukaan on MAHDOTTOMUUS ! !
On sitten aivan eri asia mitä yksityiskohtia kuinkakin priorisoidaan suunnittelussa, eli mihin seikkoihin keskitytään määrätyssä automallissa.
Kaikki autot ovat jonkin asteen kompromisseja, mutta yksikään ei onnistu "ilman sen kummempaa suunnittelu työtä". Huom kielivirheet alkuperäisestä sitaatista !
Turvattomuus onkin sitten jo aivan eri asia. Kolaritestit antavat jonkinmoista osviittaa, mutta valitettavasti vasta kolaritilastot kertovat totuuden. VOLVO ja SAAB ovatkin juuri tästä syystä tutkineet jokaisen vakavamman kolarin Ruotsissa jo vuosikymmenien ajan. Ennenkaikkea nämä surulliset tilastot ja tutkimustulokset ovat olleet lähtökohtana kyseisten automerkkien turvallisuusajattelulle suunniteltaessa uusia entistä turvallisempia automalleja.

Valehtelet! Hyundai osti Kian 5 vuotta sitten:


Hyundai Relishes Successful Union

Kia Motor, Former Rival, Is Revived Under Automaker's Firm Control

By Don Kirk International Herald Tribune
SEOUL - In the depths of the South Korean economic slump a year and a half ago, the scene would have been unthinkable: In the Kia headquarters auditorium, in front of television cameras, 500 Kia Motor Corp. executives and managers waved their fists and shouted, ''Kia and Hyundai together.''

The man who led them in the cheering, Chung Mong Koo, had never set foot in the building until January of last year. Mr. Chung is now chairman of both Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motor Corp. He also is co-chairman, with a younger brother, of the entire Hyundai Group.

The occasion, Kia Motor's president, Kim Soo Joong, said Friday, was ''a celebration'' - the emergence of Kia from two years and seven months under court receivership.

But the real purpose was to demonstrate Hyundai's success in integrating its one-time arch-rival with Hyundai Motor. Hyundai bought Kia through a protracted auction process in late 1998 and hopes to seize control of its only remaining Korean competitor, Daewoo Motor Co., now in the hands of its creditors.

''When Hyundai Motor took over Kia, everyone's opinion was it was unrecoverable,'' said Mr. Kim, transplanted from his previous post as president of Hyundai Motor. ''People believed it would take a long time or it was not possible at all.''

From near-extinction in 1998, Kia has rebounded to the point at which it made a profit last year for the first time since 1990. Its vehicle sales nearly doubled to 852,669 in 1999 from 474,630 in 1998. The company now forecasts sales of 1.1 million vehicles this year and net profit of nearly dollars 500 million

Although Kia has had some successful models, including three recreational vehicles, the Carnival, Carens and Carstar, many analysts doubt that the old Kia, overstaffed and riddled with inefficiency, could have turned into nearly such a success story without the no-nonsense, authoritarian style for which Hyundai is famous.

''They've put Hyundai people in all the key management positions,'' said Peter Underwood, an auto industry consultant. ''They've put the feet of people to the fire. They've told them, 'You're going to work.'

''They've been downsizing, and they've done a lot of work to do away with the corruption that was pervasive. Basically, they've screwed things up tight.''

Executives at Kia and Hyundai outlined a process that some say may ultimately lead to the emergence of a single company with the brand names and symbols on the cars as the only difference between Hyundai and Kia models.

Hyundai Motor now manufactures two vehicles with Kia badges - the Visto, a minivehicle, and the spacious Carstar. In July, Kia plans to introduce the Optima, a midsized car that is a dead ringer for the Sonata EF, the latest and most successful of a series of Sonatas produced by Hyundai since the early 1990s.

The idea, say Hyundai and Kia executives, is to reduce the number of ''platforms'' - the basic framework and operative parts - for all Hyundai and Kia vehicles from 23 when Hyundai took over Kia to just seven for both companies.

''They've got a big crew working on making the factories compatible,'' said Stephen Kitson, spokesman for Hyundai Motor. ''The research and development people are working on the next generation of products, to design new products that share components and still look different so you have a fully integrated range of vehicles.''

Mr. Kim, in an interview in his office at Kia headquarters, said Hyundai and Kia had completely merged research and development and most of their purchasing functions, buying the same parts from the same suppliers, reducing both the number and size of orders. In the process of pooling resources, Kia has removed 5,000 people from its payroll, trimming it down to 30,000 workers.

Mr. Chung is widely viewed as the driving force behind Kia's expansion. As chairman of Hyundai Precision Industries Co., a sister company that makes vans as well as parts for other vehicles, he led the push to acquire Kia in 1998 - and then forced the removal of his cousin from the chairmanship of Hyundai Motor Co.

Mr. Chung, the oldest surviving son of Chung Ju Yung, founder of the Hyundai group, visits Kia at least once a week, spending more time on the company than he does on Hyundai Motor.

''From Chairman Chung's point of view, Kia is like the youngest son,'' Mr. Kim said, ''so he gives us much more attention compared with others in the group.''

The goal ultimately is to place Hyundai among the world's top motor-vehicle manufacturers. With Hyundai Motor selling 1,271,471 vehicles last year, Hyundai and Kia between them accounted for nearly three-quarters of South Korea's motor-vehicle sales.

Although Mr. Chung has never been known to give an interview, he has made it clear that he hopes to win Daewoo Motor when it is auctioned off in June.

One major consideration is that Hyundai believes it has largely recovered from the huge loss it incurred in purchasing Kia, which cost about dollars 1.5 billion plus assumption of nearly dollars 4 billion of debt after a further dollars 4.5 billion in debt was written off.

Others, however, are far from certain. ''Now is a very delicate time,'' said a Kia source who spoke on condition of anonymity. ''Many people worry that Hyundai does not have enough money for Daewoo,'' which is saddled with dollars 16 billion in debt.

Mr. Chung appeared to have no doubts in the pep talk he gave Kia executives after the court freed the company from receivership, approving a 10-year plan for Kia to pay off the rest of its debts.

''Since Hyundai took over we have made a new start,'' he said. ''Now we must advance to the next step.'' With that, the fist-waving executives broke into the company song - with a final refrain, added last year: ''Kia, Hyundai, work together.''