KIA had the largest growth of any Asian car manufacturer last year, Red Box gave the final push to classic video rental operations, and neither operation was big on the radar two years ago. The need was there for low cost of entry entry/commitment in the video rental and auto movie industry.
Toyota and Honda had grown to expensive, and domestic car brands weren’t in position to fill up the bottom of the market. Somebody had to grab ahold of the bottom of the market. Toyota had tried to diversify, and had some success with their “Scion” brand, which actually means offspring of royalty. Hondas Civic is now even stepping up in price, and letting consumers down with exaggerated mileage claims for their hybrid models. The resent rerelease of the CRX seemed way to expensive for its pint sized package, its level of performance even seemed underwhelming.
The US population wants its domestic cars to succeed, but we haven’t quite honed in on the small car market yet. We have had attempts, but years of GM and Ford being able to get away with just about anything (like ripping their first electric cars off of the market, regardless of their praise) left them slightly lethargic when it comes to the needed evolution.
Korea has historically been a war torn country, caught between Japan and China in ancient pushes and pulls of aggression. It was less than 5 decades ago that they really had an opportunity to start building their nation. One of Korea’s first great companies was Hyundai, they made a major push to create the world’s best freight tankers. From there Hyundai moved onto cars.
Japanese cars kept growing, the US cars took a hard hit and left the door right open for the bottom of the market open for Korea cars. With all the potential consumers, it’s not to shabby of place to be, and Hyundai is already pushing to the next level with its “Genesis” line.
We had classic video rental stores which were a big help in avoiding $20 purchases, if you could get the film returned on time, it was great! But what happens when people can start getting videos from the web? The interactive community and cooperative nature of the web allowed for collectives to form around a myriad of topics, video rentals, car sharing, you name it, it most likely can be shared on the web!
Next comes Red Box, a place that counters the complexity of the web for the everyday walk up user. Maybe there will be a similar set up for cars that people can join outside of utilizing web resources? For every complex system we see immerging on the internet, I would look for mirrored entities to service the underground; its economy evolves at such an alarming rate.
Slums in India, Inner cities, they all have similar power dynamics to corporate culture and US Politics. Similarly, people relieve stress through drugs, alcohol, exercise, laughter and a myriad of other ways. If you want somebody to live a happier, better life, look at the stressors, their means of getting what they want, and the coping mechanisms that they are utilizing.
People are going to rent cheap movies because they need relief, and people are looking for reliable cheap cars because they have to get places. It doesn’t matter if it is flashy, Wallmart is arguably the biggest company in the world and it is one of few that market to the poor, look for and meet needs in a simple and reliable way and you will be warm and well fed. Good luck, enjoy!
