Seoul Motor Show shifts into green gear

The 2009 Seoul Motor Show opened with great fanfare at Kintex in Ilsan District, Goyang, South Korea (SK), but missed many of its regular participants, who were absent. A total of 13 domestic and foreign brands were at the show, the biggest motor show in Korea, which took place from April 2 to April 12. However, half the foreign brands present at last year’s show did not participate. The latest Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Ford and Lincoln models and concept cars were presented at the show, but BMW, Nissan, Chrysler, Volvo, Mini, Land Rover, Mitsubishi and Saab were missing. However, despite the lower level of participation, SK automobile industry officials said the Seoul Motor Show was still better off than other international motor shows, which were either called off or had even less participants.Aside from this year being the first that the Toyota brand participated, marking a first for the show, focus was on eco-friendly cars, showing important developments not only for the car industry but other industry sectors as well. (April 4, 2009)