Daewoo Motor America sold cars in the United States from 1999 through 2002, and only three models were offered: the Leganza mid-size luxury sedan, the Lanos subcompact And the Nubira compactWe covered the first two in fairly recent articles. Jewel of the scrap heapand today we investigate a late-model Nubira sedan found at a Northern California junkyard.
The first car model built by Daewoo to be sold in the United States used to be the 1988-1993 Pontiac Le MansThen, Kim Woo-choong, CEO of Daewoo Group, decided that American car buyers would like to buy new cars with a Daewoo logo.
The first Lanoses, Nubiras and Leganzas appeared as 1999 models… just as Mr. Kim fled South Korea and went on the run to avoid charges of fraud and embezzlement (he later ended up behind bars). This didn’t look great for Daewoo Motor America, but the cars were attractively priced.
The 2002 Nubira SE sedan had an MSRP of just $11,699, which equates to about $20,747 in 2024 dollars. That was less than the price of the cheapest possible 2002 Toyota Corolla sedan ($13,370) and that of the most affordable 2002 Chevy Cavalier sedan ($14,035). The Nubira actually cost not much more than the much smaller and also South Korean Hyundai Accent sedan ($10,649).
The Nubira was available as a four-door sedan and as a a four-door station wagon.
This one has the optional four-speed automatic, which added $800 to the cost ($1,419 in today’s money). The optional automatic on the 2002 Corolla CE was a three-speed, one of the very last cars equipped with this and sold in North Americaso this is one way in which the Nubira honestly outperformed the Corolla of the same year.
There’s also $850 (now $1,507) air conditioning, which reminded me that taking photos of junk cars in the 104-degree Central Valley heat can be a challenge.
The engine is a 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder with an output of 129 hp.
Daewoo went bankrupt in 2000, so it took a brave buyer to purchase a 2002 model. During that time, GM eventually bought out all of Daewoo’s auto manufacturing operations that it didn’t already own (But not Daewoo Motor America).
This car has never driven 100,000 miles in its entire life (unless the speedometer cable broke at 87,070 miles), which is typical of the discarded Daewoos I documented (Although I to have found it a Lanos that has reached the 200,000 mile mark).
The end of Daewoo cars here did not mean that Americans would be deprived of Daewoo machines. The next generation of Lanos was the Chevrolet Aveothe improved Nubira appeared here as the Suzuki Reno and the revised Leganza appeared as the Suzuki Verona.
Some suspension of disbelief was required.
Even more suspension of disbelief required.
Strong hallucinogens are needed.