The invest of Korean on R&D to the correction of part making with Renault entrance

Khodrocar - The South Korean government initially opposed the sale of SsangYong to China. In their view, Psyche was moving car manufacturing technology to China and could have been a competitor to Korean automakers, but SsangYong was not in a good position. The Korean company refused to participate.

Chinese company Psych, on the other hand, has pledged $ 1 billion to design new products for SsangYong. With the government's approval, the Industrial Bank of Korea lent money to the Chinese company Psych, and he was able to buy half of SsangYong's shares. At the same time, General Motors, which owned Daewoo, announced that it would now launch Daewoo vehicles manufactured in foreign markets under the Chevrolet and Holden brands.

General Motors attributed the decision to the negative consumer mentality of Daewoo. Accordingly, the Daewoo brand was limited to Korea and Vietnam, and one of South Korea's most famous car names was on the verge of extinction.

In 2005, Kia and Hyundai executives felt they had gained a foothold in the US market, and it was time to focus part of their efforts in Asia and Europe. They knew that in order to succeed in their target market, they had to invest in R&D in proportion to that market, so they decided to set up new R&D centers and hire engineers with experience working in those markets.

Research and development centers that operate independently of each other, but their products enter the global sales network separately from local markets. The second policy of Hyundai and Kia executives at this time was to separate the research and development centers of the two companies.

Although the two companies used common platforms for their vehicles, executives decided to set up independent centers that could increase the variety of products produced on these platforms.

In the first step, Hyundai established a new research and development center in Rachel Schimm, Germany. Hyundai managed to hire Thomas Barkel to manage the center. He was one of the directors of BMW design department who designed the new 3 and 6 series models of this company. Thomas Barkel was set to work independently of Joel Piasowski, who had previously worked as a designer at Hyundai.

The task of the Hyundai European Center was to design cars suitable for the European market. In fact, Hyundai's R&D department in Germany was responsible for designing sedans and hatchbacks, and Hyundai's R&D center in Irvine, California, worked on SUVs and large luxury sedans.

Hyundai also selected a Korean-Australian designer named KC Hyun as the company's director of creative design. He was based at the Hyundai Research and Development Center in Korea, which operated independently of the company's other R&D centers.

Shortly afterwards, Kia opened a new R&D center in Frankfurt. Kia was able to hire Peter Shearer to run the center. Like Thomas Barackel, he was a German engineer, but he had a much higher reputation and experience, and before that he was the design manager of reputable companies such as Volkswagen and Audi. Volkswagen Beetle and famous cars such as Audi A3, A4, A6 and TT were among the outstanding works of this German designer.

Three weeks later, Hyundai and Kia announced that Peter Shearer, in addition to being Kia's design manager, would also be Hyundai's chief designer, and that engineers working in Hyundai R&D centers around the world would be under his supervision. To work.

At the same time, Iran Khodro was looking for a car that could produce it as an alternative to Peykan and be suitable for consumers who are looking for a cheap car.

One of the ideas that came up at this point was to box the Peugeot 206. According to Iran Khodro executives, the small trunk of the 206 had prevented the average family from using it as a family car.

Iran Khodro Company invested 132 billion Tomans for the design and production of a cash register Peugeot and unveiled it for the first time at the Stuttgart Auto Show. Iran Khodro initially suggested the name Peugeot Arian for it, but Peugeot opposed the name. The French company believed that because Hitler used the name, the Peugeot Arian could not have a good export market in Europe, and eventually the name Peugeot 206SD, which stands for sedan, was chosen.

With the new government in power in 2005, the relationship between the automakers and the government expanded and the flawed structure that had emerged in previous governments intensified. New government officials have scrapped the issue of car pricing on the margins of the market, urging automakers to keep car prices stable in all circumstances. The government, on the other hand, imposed additional ancillary costs on automakers.

One of them was the establishment of car production sites in different parts of the country to create jobs. Interestingly, the launch of these production sites did not take place with the shrinking of factories located in Tehran, and the establishment of these new sites increased the production capacity of the same old cars.

As car prices remained stable and inflation rose each year, in practice, car prices became cheaper each year, and automakers pushed parts manufacturers to lower production prices in order to keep prices stable. This in itself became a factor in reducing the quality of cars.

In the new situation, due to the low price of cars, many low-income families were able to buy cars, and large car companies also increased their production capacity. Now they produced day and night in three shifts, and whatever was offered to the market was sold.

But the most important thing that happened during this period was to solve the problem of Renault Logan production, which in Iran became known as L90 and then Tondar 90. The new directors of the Development Organization called on Renault to make amendments to reduce internal sensitivities to the car contract.

During the difficult period of the contract, the CEO of Renault-Nissan changed and Carlos Ghosn took over the management of the company. The new CEO agreed to the changes, and Renault resumed cooperation with Iranian automakers. Production of the first Thunder 90 models began in 2007 in Pars Khodro and Iran Khodro.

During the production of this car in Iran, Renault Pars Company created a new structure, and for this reason, although the Thunder 90 was produced in the same companies that Pride and Peugeot were also produced, the quality of this car was by no means similar to that of Pride and Peugeot. It was not comparable.

The first difference was related to the way the car company communicated with the network of parts manufacturers. Iran Khodro and Saipa each have companies called Sazeh Gostar and Sapco, which act as intermediaries between parts manufacturers and the production line. In fact, these companies are responsible for purchasing and assembling auto parts and are a kind of support for the production line. But many parts manufacturers believe that these companies are one of the factors that reduce the quality of cars because the criterion for buying parts is not based on quality.

Apart from the fact that car companies receive the amount of the car in cash or even long before the car is delivered from the consumer, but the parts manufacturers are always creditors of the car companies and can hardly collect their demand. This has caused even parts manufacturers who succeed in selling products to large automotive companies to face a liquidity crisis.

But in the Thunder 90, Renault tried to correct this defective structure and work directly with parts manufacturers. At the beginning, the technical knowledge of manufacturing the parts that were to be produced in Iran was transferred to the Iranian parts manufacturers, and in the next stage, the parts were approved only by Renault quality control experts, who entered the production cycle with this change of quality parts.

Another thing that established the quality of the Thunder 90 was Renault's strict quality control over the car. Peugeot and Kia companies, which owned domestic high-volume products, have no concerns about the quality of their cars produced in Iran, and left the quality control work entirely to domestic car companies.

The managers who signed the Thunder 90 contract with Renault believed that with this contract, Iranian carmakers would learn management and quality control from Renault. But in the following years, it became clear that due to the private market and lack of competition, domestic automakers were generally not concerned about learning quality control, and cooperation with Renault did not correct the flawed structure.

At this point, Iran Khodro, which was still looking for a car to replace the Peykan, agreed with the Chinese company Chery to jointly produce one of the company's cars called S21 in Iran. It was decided to establish a company with a joint investment of $ 370 million to produce this car in Iran and to export 20% of the cars produced by Chery itself.

Although the contract for the production of this car was signed between the two parties, the then Minister of Industry opposed its implementation and the project remained silent. Sometime later, Saipa Company also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian company Poroton to produce a cheap car in Iran. Saipa Company announced that this new car is supposed to replace Pride, but despite the public announcement of this issue and the support of the Minister of Industry, this memorandum did not become a contract and this cooperation failed.

In this situation, Saipa resumed work on its national project called S81, which was stopped a few years ago. In 2006, the CEO of Hyundai Motor was arrested by order of the South Korean prosecutor. He was charged with money laundering and illegal transfer of $ 106 million in corporate assets. The owner of Hyundai was accused of embezzlement in a situation where his personal fortune was estimated at $ 6 billion.

The arrest of the CEO of Hyundai as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in South Korea showed the serious determination of the Korean government to fight corruption. The court examined his charges and sentenced him to three years in prison, which was upheld by an appeals court. However, the president voluntarily suspended the execution due to the negative impact on the economy, and the owner of Hyundai and Kia was released from prison.

Hyundai unveiled the first luxury car, the Genesis, at the New York Auto Show shortly after the CEO's release. The unveiling of this car was the beginning of Hyundai entering the market of expensive and luxury cars.

A year later, the US stock market plummeted and the financial crisis plunged into a slump in purchasing power, affecting companies such as Hyundai and Kia, which relied heavily on the US market, more than any other. During this time, Korean automakers tried to sell cars that were not sold in the US market in other markets.

The Korean government sought to strengthen the domestic market to support automakers, so it was announced that buyers of Korean cars would receive low-interest loans. The Korean government's move was able to boost the purchasing power of the people, and some of the returned cars were sold from European and American markets inside Korea.