| [ car ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): hanaro ((((1 로)))�) 날 짜 (Date): 1995년04월02일(일) 00시21분58초 KST 제 목(Title): 대우 에스페로 호주상륙 폭풍주의보 이태리 디자인, 호주 엔진, 한국 생산 `Daewoo 1.5'의 성공에 힘입어 대우의 `에스페로'가 다음주 호주에 상륙한다. $22,800에 판매될 대우 에스페로는 에어로 다이내믹 스타일의 중형차로서 고급스러운 외양과 실내장식에 비해 가격은 일제 소형차 정도이다. 이탈리안 스타일의 에스페로는 스타일에서도 경쟁 차종에 뒤지지 않지만 구매자의 관심을 끄는 매력은 무엇보다도 가격이다. 에스페로 정도의 차가 $22,800에 판매된다는 것은 호주 자동차 업계에선 커다란 충격이 아닐 수 없다. 참고로 에스페로의 경쟁 차종들의 가격을 알아보면 다음과 같다. 현대 소나타 GLE($23,990), 현대 란트라 GLS($22,990), 포드 레이저 LXi($24,100), 미쯔비시 마그나 GLX($23,212), 토요타 캠리 CSi($26,030), 토요타 코롤라($25,400). 저렴한 차가격에 비해 에스페로의 성능과 기본적인 사양들은 타의 추종을 불허한다. 우선 에어 콘디셔너와 파워 스티어링, 파워 윈도우, 센튜럴 록킹, CD 플레이어 등이 기본사양이며 운전자 에어백과 ABS브레이크를 선택사양으로 제공하고 있다. 대우 에스페로가 특히 호주시장에서 주목을 끌고 있는 점은 이 차의 디자인은 이태리에서, 생산은 한국에서, 그리고 엔진은 호주에서 제작하고 있다는 것이다. Holden 엔진을 장착한 대우 에스페로는 Ford Falcon보다도 넓은 트렁크 사이즈를 자랑한다. 가격은 평균이하, 성능과 시설은 평균 이상의 대우 에스페로는 호주에서 한달에 300대에서 325대 정도가 판매될 것으로 예측되고 있다. (THE TOP, 95/3/17) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Espero arrives in style, with plenty of good gear Smart styling, plenty of equipment, a huge boot and keen pricing are the features of the Daewoo Espero which was officially launched yesterday. (09/March/1995) Pitched between the Corolla and Camry in size, but cheaper than rival cars when its features are taken into account, the Espero(Spanish for desire) has fresh styling by Italian design house Bertone. Espero, to be marketed as Daewoo's flagship model in this market, has a strong Melbourne connection. It is powered by a multipoint fuel-injected 8-valve 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine made by Holden's Engine Company. Holden's engine gives the Espero less power than most of its competitors in the small and medium classes -- cars such as the Hyundai Sonata and Lantra, Ford Laser, Mitsubishi Magna and Lancer, and Toyota Camry and Corolla. But Espero wins hands-down in its value for money. It has an impressive range of standard features for the base price of $22,800. These include air-conditioning, power steering, electric mirrors and windows, central locking, remote boot release and a stereo sound system with CD player. A driver's airbag and anti-skid brakes are available, but only together for $2000. Other safety features include height adjustment for the front seat-belts and a specially designed steel frame in the front seats to prevent "submarining" in a collision. Penned at the Bertone studios outside Turin, in northern Italy, the Espero has glass C-pillars in a bid to make the car's interior feel more spacious as well as improving visibility. Daewoo says Bertone's design has created one of the slipperiest cars in its class with a drag co-efficient of 0.29. Less wind resistance improves acceleration and fuel economy. But the Korean company says the design avoids the traps involved with warp-around styling which can leave expensive panels vulnerable to low-speed impacts. For example, it includes impact-absorbing bumpers. Daewoo says the Espero passes the new crash-test standard, which comes into effect in July, without an airbag. The Family II engine, of which about 140,000 have been exported to Korea in the past year, produces 82kW of power at 5400 rpm and 164Nm of torque at 2800 rpm. It is mated with a five-speed manual gearbox or, for an extra $1800, a four-speed electronic auto with economy, power and winter modes. The transmission starts in third gear in "winter" mode to reduce the risk of wheel spin. At 80 kmh, this mode is automatically disengaged. A "limp home" mode is provided, enabling you to select first, third, fourth and reverse gears manually if the normal transmission functions fail. Fuel consumption is 10.2 litres for each 100km around town -- in theory, a range of almost 500 km from the 50-litre tank. On the highway, this improves to 6.0 litres/100 km for a range of more than 800 km. Suspension is by MacPherson struts at the front and a semi-independent rear end using a compound torsion beam. A soft-feel three-spoke steering wheel is standard, but a four-spoke wheel is used with the airbag option. Both types have a four-step height adjustment. Brakes are discs at the front and drums at the rear. Pads and discs can be replaced without removing the calliper; pad wear can be checked without removing the wheel. A feature of the Espero is the large boot which has a capacity of 560 litres -- more than any of the competitors mentioned above. The Camry comes closest with 517 litres. The rear seat has a centre armrest and a hatch that allows two sets of skis to be carried. Other features include bonded front and rear wind-screens, 14-inch wheels with 185/65 radial tyres, and fog lamps. Daewoo cars are covered by a three-year/100,000km warranty supported by 80 dealers throughout Australia. WHAT TO PAY DAEWOO ESPERO o Manual sedan ..... $22,800 Options: o Auto $1800; anti-skid brakes and driver's airbag(package) ..... $2000 (Herald-Sun, 10/Mar/95) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Daewoo comes out fighting - David Morley Daewoo has fired the second shot in the battle for the hearts and wallets of Australian car buyers. Just six months after the original 1.5 hatch was launched, the South Korean maker has waded into the ultra-tough medium car fray with a product that could easily meet the maker's conservative sales projections as well as handling Daewoo a bigger, more profitable chunk of the local market. Falling somewhere between what the Australian market calls a large small car and a medium car, the Espero draws on some mature but proven engineering and wraps it in a more modern, well-equipped package. Not too surprisingly, given Daewoo's brief history in this country, the Espero is also priced keenly. While many industry insiders were tipping a J-car (Holden Camira, for one) platform to form the basis of the car, the reality is that the Espero is built around a cut and shut T-car platform that has been lengthened to provide the extra wheelbase and interior space. That layout endows the cars with a conventional MacPherson strut front end and a torsion beam set-up at the rear. Despite being fully imported from South Korea, the Espero does have one large chunk of AUstralian content. The engine is made by Holden's Engine Company in Port Melbourne, gets exported to South Korea and finds its way back here on a boat in the engine bay of the Espero. The Family 2 engine measures two litres and is exactly square with a bore and stroke of 86mm apiece. Electronically controlled multi-point fuel-injection is part of the package but you can forget about multi-valves and camshafts in pairs. The Espero runs a single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder - antiquated to some, quaint to others and "not important" to potential buyers, according to Daewoo. The end result is a useable 84kW at a low-ish (for 1995) 5000rpm and an equally important 164Nm of torque developed at a lazy 3000rpm. Gearbox choices are limited to a five-speed manual - a Daewoo remake of the old Camira-style transmission - and a pretty good electronic four-speed automatic. Brakes are discs up front with take-them-or-leave-them drums at the rear. The optional ABS must be one of the few systems left in the world to work its magic on drums brakes. In fact, the ABS system is a four-sensor, three-channel set-up with individual electronic control for the front and mechanical actuation for the rear. The whole package is wrapped in a rather swoopy body from the pen of Italian chic-shop Bertone. Bertone also took take care of the Espero's production engineering on Daewoo's behalf. Daewoo reckons the responses from early clinics suggested the unbadged body was perhaps a Subaru and ti's possible to identify plenty of Subaru Vortex-wedge in the overall line. There's also some Ford Probe in the rear glasshouse and lots of late model Citroen garnishes. For all that, the Espero's knife-edged lines are not unattractive and it does manage to look different - not an easy task in 1995. The car's commendable Cd figure of 0.29 is also proof that the wind tunnel can be obeyed without resorting to cloning the opposition's styling. Inside, the individual theme continues. While we're not totally sure about the quality of some of the switchgear and the plastics involved, there's absolutely no mistaking the interior for anybody else's work. The large, squarish binnacle is not, perhaps, the most attractive we've encountered but it is different and manages to be so without looking particularly dated in any respect. Gauges are clear and easy to read although the logic behind the dished instrument faces eludes us. The minor switches clustered at the edge of the binnacle grate a little with a rather cheap appearance and downmarket action. Ditto the interior door handles which carry plenty of moulding marks and dags and require some familiarity thanks to their horizontal mounting. On the upside, the Espero offers leg room that will, we suspect, prove to be class leading. Even with a 180-centimetres driver ensconced in the front, a rearseat passenger of the same height has no knee-room woories and plenty of head room. While such comodious cabins often impact on boot space, the Espero has a boot space, the Espero has a boot that, despite a relatively high loading lip, borders on excellent. The space is deep, thanks to the high-tail wedge styling and longer than most. Driving the manual version is something of a flashback to the mid 1980s and the Holden Camira. Much of that has to do with the engine and transmission but also in the way the vehicle balances ride against handling. And that comparison is by no menas a criticism of the Espero - the horrible irony of the Camira is that, when it was going, the chassis was a class-leading device. The ride tends to soak up bumps like a larger car with minimal fuss and noise and, apart from some initial slowness of the steering ratio, turn-in is accurate with good weight and feel. While we're prepared to concede that a good two-valve SOHC engine can work at least as well as an ordinary twin-cam, the Espero's engine is a little disappointing. Noise and harshness as revs pass 4000rpm are the culprits and while there's no real need to stray into this quadrant of the tachometer, the manual transmission makes it all too easy to do so. All of which makes the automatic version the pick of the two. The two-pedal model can be driven on the engine's not inconsiderable reserves of torque (the very characteristic that makes an auto work) with a correspondingly lower level of intrusion from the motor. There doesn't even seem to be much of a performance trade-off either, the automatic version apparently accelerating with all the alacrity of the manual. That nicely balanced chassis also enables the driver to make the most of the performance in automatic form as corner speeds can be maintained and the general flow of things kept happening. A lock-up torque converter makes the vehicle as responsibe as the manual version at freeway speeds, anyway. In the equipment versus bucks department, the Espero is going to provide some stiff competition indeed. There's really only on specification level which, with the manual transmission, carries a sticker of $22,800. The automatic transmission adds a rather hefty $1800 for a figure of $24,600. However, both those prices include an unprecedented range of standard kit that, more than any other feature of the car, stands a good chance of making it a showroom hit. Air-conditioning is standard, along with power steering and integrated fog lights. Power operated mirrors and windows are thrown in and central locking is also standard. Even better news is the addition of a CD player - all part of the standard package. In fact, the only options are the Bosch ABS and a driver's airbag, sold together as a $2000 package. In any case, the Espero passes the upcoming ADR 69 crash test without the airbag fitted. Daewoo's excellent three-year/100,000 kilometres warranty applies, also. It's this level of standard equipment, at what is essentially a bargain basement price, that stands to make the Espero a success for Daewoo. The only ramining questions are exactly how many new marques can find a viable home in Australia and how crowded the already well-subscribed lower end of the market will eventually become. (THE AGE, 16/Mar/95) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Hurdles for Espero - David Morley Daewoo is well aware of the hurdles facing its Espero range. Not the least of these is the espero's position in the over $20,000 bracket and Daewoo sales and marketing manager Kevin Wall is candid when he rates the model's chances as "even money". Why is 20,000 such a magice number? According to Wall, the reasons are many but start with the rash of discounting within the medium class cars. In many cases, that discouting is factory-backed but Wall points out that Daewoo Australia is in no position to participate in such tactics. Medium class-car buyers are also more brand conscious and loyal to a particular marque than small car-buyers who tend to be a more transient bunch come trade-in time. There's also, says Wall, a phenonemon called the "19,000" factor - a mental barrier". Of course, Daewoo has chosen to muddy the waters a little by positioning the Espero somewhere between the larger small cars on the market and what are generally called medium cars. That's backed up by the Espero's dimensions: at 4615 milimetres, the overall length is closer to the Toyota Camry than the Corolla. In width meanwhile, the Espero is mid-way between the two Toyotas with 1718 millimetres. Daewoo's strategy, broadly speaking, is to ignore discouting from other makers and sell the Espero into an increasingly competitive market on the basis of value for money. Obvious target buyers are Mazda 626, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry owners suffering a severe case of sticker shock having set foot in a new car show room. Certainly, the Espero is a well-equipped vehicle for the money invoved and seems to have what it takes in most important dynamic areas. Daewoo, meanwhile, has every reason to feel optimistic about the new car's chances given the operation's track record in the six short months it has been a force in Australia. In those 26 weeks, 232,000 new passenger cars were sold into the total marketplace, 80,000 of which were small cars. The Daewoo 1.5 accounted for 4000 of those small car slaes, giving the model a 5 per cent share of the market. More importantly, that figure was a massive 50 per cent up on Daewoo's own predictions of 6000 cars in the first year. That has been hastily revised to 7800 1.5s, with Daewoo expecting to sell a further 1800 Esperos (a figure that seems, on the surface, to be extremely conservative) for a total of 9600 units for the 1995 calendar year. That's an impressive tally for a marque's first full year in a tough export market the size of ours and a figure that could easily blow out. According to Daewoo managing director, Ric Hull, the 1.5 could have done even better but for supply problems from South Korea. Those supply bottlenecks are a function of the origianl, low guestimate by the locals as well as unnprecedented international demand for the Daewoo product, reflecting the company's world push. Hull says Daewoo was, at one stage, looking at launching the Espero alongside the updated small car, the Cielo. The complexity of the plan - not to mention enticing a marketplace to remember two new names - resulted in the Espero going it alone. Daewoo now has 72 dealers with 80 outlets around Australia, which Hull says is in line with the company's five-year plan. That plan also involves four more totally new models for our market within the 72-months time-frame. (THE AGE, 16/Mar/95) Noil is short, sliver is long. :) _--_|\ Think globally, act locally. / \ hanaro@werple.mira.net.au \_.--.,/ 즐거운 하루 보내세요~ v |