Jump LinksSouth Korea's Forgotten BrandHere's What Cars You Could Have Bought.Daewoo's 2002 LineupDaewoo's Untimely Demise.Are Daewoo cars still made?What is Daewoo called now?Can you still buy a Daewoo car?Is Daewoo the same as Chevrolet?When you think of Korean automakers, normally your brain goes to Hyundai or Kia, with their popular models like the Accord and Sportage being common on the roads. Maybe, if you're a bit more automotive-savvy, you think about SsangYong. But there was a smaller player in the Korean market for years, making cars you may have never heard of. This brand was originally one of South Korea's first homegrown automakers and later became owned by one of the largest car companies in the world. Let's tell the story of Daewoo cars, its short time in the US, and what happened to this oft-forgotten brand.This article covers Daewoo models that were sold in the US, as well as the history and sales associated with it. Some of these cars were rebadged as other models in other parts of the world. We acknowledge the brand has a different presence elsewhere in the world. Where Did Daewoo Come From? South Korea's Forgotten Brand 1992 Daewoo Espero Silver Front Angled DrivingDaewoo has a long and complicated history. Originally founded as National Motors in 1937, it was one of the first automakers founded by an east-Asian country. Originally producing light trucks and commercial vehicles, the brand ended up changing names plenty of times between the 1960s and 1980s, due to multiple different ownership and rebranding strategies. In 1982, it finally settled on Daewoo Motors after being bought by the conglomerate parent company Daewoo, and started its rapid expansion with new cars and attempted to capture other markets outside of South Korea. In 1986, the brand released the LeMans, a compact, front-wheel-drive sedan that attempted to take on rivals like the Toyota Corolla and Ford Escort. The LeMans never did quite well outside of South Korea, and despite multiple attempts at creating a recognizable brand in the European market, Daewoo struggled compared to its better-funded rivals like Hyundai and Kia.So, the brand pivoted. In the 1990s, it was bought by another automotive company, SsangYong, which funded its automotive development, while also forcing the brand to create light-duty commercial trucks to help offset the brand's unprofitability. This led to a better name for the company worldwide, as its trucks ended up outselling its cars. Another strange thing happened in the 1990s for the brand, though, and this would change the course of the company for years to come. In the early years of the 90s, Daewoo started rebadging its cars for other emerging markets. This allowed them to compete in markets where traditional Western automakers had struggled, like in Central Asia. This spearheaded a new strategy for the brand, and a wave of new cars was released by Daewoo in the late 1990s as a part of their new expansion plans. But, how was it going to do it? By this point, SsangYong had pulled back its investments, leaving the future of Daewoo uncertain. Then, a savior stepped in by the name of General Motors. What Cars Did It Sell In The US? Here's What Cars You Could Have Bought. 1999-2002 Daewoo Nubira Wagon Front Angle ViewDaewoo entered the US market in 1998 to some fanfare. Small, cheap cars had been selling well in the US, and newer, lesser-known Asian car companies like Suzuki, Isuzu, and Hyundai had already started to take small shares of the car market. So, in order for Daewoo to beat its competition, it needed to create a lineup that would kick everyone else to the curb. The result? Three models: the Lanos, the Nubria, and the Leganza. The Lanos, the brand's smallest car, was poised to go toe-to-toe with everything from the Toyota Tercel to the Volkswagen Golf, but US sales by 2002 were just over 10,000 units. The larger Nubria model was interesting for offering a wagon variant of the model; however, by this time in the US, minivans and small SUVs were starting to eat market share away from long-roof options, leaving the car without a large buyer base. And then there was the Leganza, Daewoo's largest car. The Leganza was poised to go up against the brutally competitive mid-sized market like the Honda Accord and Nissan Altima. These cars were small and cheap, but, despite the low prices, the brand never really found its footing stateside. Daewoo's 2002 Lineup Daewoo Lanos (hatchback) Daewo Nubria (sedan or wagon) Daewoo Leganza (sedan) By 2002, the market had spoken, and the GM-backed company had exited the US, having sold just over 170,000 cars in a period of five years, with its best sales year coming in 2000. Despite Daewoo's car models having competitive pricing, they never quite lived up to expectations. Reports of cars like the Lanos being expensive to fix without a warranty, as well as a small dealer network and an even more unreliable parts network, swayed buyers away from the brand. Its cars were also seen as less than other automakers due to a general lack of name recognition, and despite heavy investment from GM, there was little attempt to capture major markets in the US like the minivan and SUV segments, all places where competitors were releasing new cars. It wasn't just Daewoo, however, as the 2000s were a rough year for a lot of automakers. As Isuzu didn't last to see the end of the decade, while Suzuki had already seen its best sales years by the late '00s as well. In general, buyers had become so used to the reliable and economical cars of brands like Honda and Toyota that there was little incentive to go try an unproven brand from a country that, only until recently, has had a favorable view, automotive-wise, by consumers. Where Did The Brand Go? Daewoo's Untimely Demise. daewoo mainDespite Daewoo exiting the US market in 2002, it wasn't the last time we saw a Daewoo model on our shores. The Daewoo Matiz, arguably one of the brand's most successful cars, came back to America in the late 2000s as the Chevy Spark, an ultra-compact hatchback and sedan that ended up selling over 250,000 units during its more than a decade-long production run. It was one of the cheapest new cars you could buy in America. Daewoo also saw relatively high levels of success in Europe, where rebranded versions of the Chevrolet Lacetti and Daewoo Matiz flooded the cheap car market, giving the brand a second wind outside the Korean market. Daewoo had also rebadged the Saturn Sky as the G2X, making this the only Daewoo sports car to have ever been built. This wind continued throughout the 2000s and early 2010s as Korean automakers in general started seeing sales swing up due to their cheap prices and great warranties. By the 2010s, Daewoo had effectively become a car company built on creating rebadged products. Cars like the Chevy Captiva were created by Daewoo, and had the Chevrolet branding in Europe and Asia in order to have increased market share.It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine, however. In 2011, General Motors made the puzzling decision to kill the Daewoo brand in South Korea. Meaning that Daewoos only existed in some external markets, despite being a South Korean brand. All Daewoo models effectively became Chevrolets, and despite the brand's existence in some smaller markets like Poland and Uzbekistan, the last Daewoo-branded models rolled off the production line in 2015, marking the end of one of South Korea's first auto manufacturers. Since the brands shut down, Daewoo has been talked about less and less over the years. Today, they're often known as the scrappy little automotive conglomerate that tries its best to become a world-dominating car company, like its larger brothers Kia and Hyundai. You can still find some used Daewoo models in the United States. However, they are difficult to come across and typically have high miles and issues. But even though the brand hasn't existed in the US in over 20 years, it is important to go back and look at one of the strangest car companies to have ever set foot in America, and look back at what could have been the third large Korean carmaker that buyers could have fought for. FAQs Are Daewoo cars still made? No. Daewoo effectively went out of production in 2015, but used and pre-owned models can be found. What is Daewoo called now? Daewoo was discontinued by General Motors, and most of its models became Chevrolets. Can you still buy a Daewoo car? No, you cannot buy a Daewoo new car, as the brand has been shut down for over a decade, but some used models are still in circulation. Is Daewoo the same as Chevrolet? Daewoo was owned by General Motors, which also owns Chevrolet. As a result, many Daewoo products ended up being rebadged as Chevrolets.