You are right to a degree, Korean cars are cheaper but only marginal compared to what Toyota is offering. The two head to head competition betweeen the two has been the Corrolla and the Sonata. Nyquil is right, if your aware last month has seen alot of Japanese protests for the Japanese UN SC seat as well as the texbook issue in china so nationalistic ideas have definatley made the Korean cars more appealing reflected in their growth rate and market acceptance compare to the Japanese car makers. Chinese mainland auto consumers may not be sophisticated as their North American or European counterparts but they are well aware in terms of relaibility, refinement and bang for the buck, the Japanese product is better value, comparing the Corrola for example to the Hyundai Sonata, is a real no brainer, but due to certain political and national events the Koreans are reaping the rewards of basically having an inferior product but being able to compete and attain greater growth with less the marketing and uphill struggles as experienced by the likes of the Honda and Toyota's. Both GM and VW have been struggling in china, they have been stuck in the same situation as the 1970's OPEC oil price debacle. The cars they make are too big (Buick) and fuel inefficient, both have seen in the past 2 years dramatic slowdown in sales compared to the domestic and japanese and korean rivals in the china market. So to derail the thread. but somebody asked.
I posted a thread about this a while back, and here is the link for those interested to know how fat Les Alexander's pockets are becoming not only becaus of Yao, but also in part because of McGrady's popularity (and the whole buzz obviously about Houston having a dynamic duo that will create a winner/dynasty for years to come. Fans like a winner, and especially dynamic duos): http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=94583 These numbers are the jump made in revenues (53%) and team value (33%) in ONLY one season! As I said in that thread, there is no reason to feel sorry for Les anymore, he is making tons of money from this team, and that means he has to spend a lot of money as well to build a championship contender. He already has the foundation, now all he needs to do is not be a cheapo and pay good money for a solid PF and may be another good role player. Yao & T-Mac are cash cows, I think these numbers clearly show it.
