[JOE420SHMO]

First post!

Question: how does the (nuke) situation with north/south affect the marketing stratagey to the United States sales?

 

[49605]

Are you thinking "what will parts availability be like after a nuclear exchange on the Korean peninsula"??? Hmmm, hard to say but it could be a problem. I don't believe their "No Dong" missile can reach Milwaukee yet (though Japan is sure in range) so mebbe buy a Buell?



Anyhow at least it answers a big question for the neo-cons who lied us into Iraq... like "WTF is the deal with all those Iraqi WMDs you Bu****es sold us on?"

 

[33129]

For those of us old enough to remember, Datsun put out a few noteworthy cars, like the Roadster, the 510 and the 240 Z. Pretty competent cars at a time when Japanese cars were pretty crappy, Porsches were pricey, British stuff was suffering from quality control troubles and America was wrapped up in muscle. (God bless the original Z28 for putting handles on that muscle and Mustang/Shelby for matching that effort.) At that time, I certainly didn't associate the name Datsun with junk.

 

[Neal]

Agreed...my father had a 510,my cousin a 240Z...nice cars. Datsun also made two nicelittle sport cars,one a 1600 engine one a 2000. The 2000 was a competent and well regarded sports car. At that time (late 60's early 70's) Datsun quality was generally considered to be better than Toyota.

I believe quality control issues in the 80's tarnished datsun's rep and caused them to drop Datsun in favor of Nissan.

 

[stoney8888]

The mustang came out with handles first 64 - 66 then the Z28 matched the effort. But they both came out with big blocks at the same time in 67'

 

[skadamo]

I was wondering the same thing. I am no expert on foreign relations and don't know all the details, but I doubt the North would nuke the south. Geographically, it is to close and they share to much blood.

Also, South Korea accounts for 6.2% of thier trade. Japan is 11.2% of thier trade. Besides China and Thailand, doesn't look like any other countries care to do business with them...

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm

I don't see any strategy that would work for North Korea as far a bombing a country goes. The only productive thing they can use thier nukes for is to get attention.

 

[pdad13]

Enlighten me, skadamo--Hyosung coming to the USA as ''Hyosung''?

Hey skadamo, as far as you've heard, why the change? I can see the logic in not using the Alpha name anymore, being every other distributor in every other country is using Hyosung--and the company is starting to receive some significant buzz (even though Alpha sounds better to western ears.) But do you have any idea how they plan to distribute and market?

Alphasports seems like it could be too small of an operation, with too few legitamate dealers to carry out Hyosung's plans. Plus, Hyosung could probably make more margin doing it themselves, or more volume with a bigger distributor. Is this thinking on the right track ?

 

[mscuddy]

Bravo Hyosung.



As to that crack about the venerable early Datsuns as being "cheap", inexpensive yes, but cheap no.



Remember the Bluebird? A copy of British motorcars, right down to the pushrod motor. With Japanese electrics, pretty much indestructible.



And the early 70's 1300 & 1600cc pick up. My '71 1600 would not wear out. The suspension was so stiff, if you hit a cigarette butt, it'd bounce you through the overhead. Could put 3/4 ton in it though, no problem.

 

[seruzawa]

I bought a Datsun 510 in 1971 when I got out of the Nav. I had a ball driving it up and down Sunset Blvd blowing the doors off of the occasional MGB. Then I'd race up and down Tujunga Blvd with similar results. Maybe I was just crazier than the average guy who drove an MGB.



It was troublefree. All I ever did was change oil and put tires on it. At the time this was unheard of, since virtually all American cars required frequent returns to the dealer. The early 70s was probably the worst time period for American cars in history. Even Model T Fords weren't much worse than much of 70's American junk.



My older brother had a Datsun 1967 1600 Fairlady (the two seater) that would easily stomp almost any British two seater. The Dartsun 2000 was easily the fastest two seater aside from the Sunbeam Tiger. 'Course the Tiger used the Ford 260 V-8. The 4 cylinder Sunbeam was arguably the worst British two seater ever built. Probably the worst two seater ever built was the Fiat 850 Spider.



At the time it didn't take much to be more reliable than an MGB, Triumph, Sunbeam or Austin Healy. Even an AMF Sportster was more reliable than one of those.

 

[seruzawa]

Oops

I meant Tujunga Canyon, not Tujunga Blvd.

 

[jungkvist]

Now, now, don't be pickin on the Bushie-Neo-Cons.



There just Thinking Globalie and Taking Resposiblily Locally (for their wallets).



After all...never want to have silly things like Compassion, Peace, and Hope for Humanity cluttering up your brain (when there's a Dollar to be made).



OOP! Gotta check the Stock Market...wanna see how Nike's doin...'those Little Brown People...over in South East Asia...sure can work!

 

[seruzawa]

The early Datsun were good, reliable and inexpensive. I think that the company must have accidentally hired some American MBAs to "help out".

 

[seruzawa]

Enough already!

This sort of shyt is welcome at moveon.org. Or maybe you could go an Al Franken's show?

 

[jungkvist]

You Got That Right.

Here, things went to Hell by 74 (the 73 Buick Riv, was the last Real American Car...IMHO). If Detroit's put-out anything Wilder, than a Boat-Tail Rivera, since...I ain't seen it.

The 240Z musta buried the WHAT-THE-F-Ck-METER in Detroit. Because the 240Z was known as the "WHAT-THE-HELL'S-THAT" for a long time, around here. One of the local Rich-Kids got the first one ((ORANGE!!!)) and it got everybodies attention.

 

[mscuddy]

Maybe someone like Charles Kettering.

 

[sarnali]

Re: Enough already!

look at his tag line, "[email protected]"...

Guess who's coming to dinner?

 

[jungkvist]

*****! Somebody might be takin' me seriously...How'd that happen.

Naw! I'm just tryin to fill the Void, Kpaul left in his wake...he...he...he. Somebodies gotta try,n make life miserable...figure, I got The-Gift!

But then...I never know when to take any of you guys seriously. So you might be, being tongue-in-cheek, about my being tongue-in-cheek.

Gets sorta confusin' around here, sometimes.

 

[sarnali]

Re: You Got That Right.

First 240Z I saw was at the car show in Seattle.. My dad was a salesman at a dealership that sold BMW, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and MG so we got to go before the general public and get the nickle tour.

WTF pretty well sumed up the reaction of just about everyone there. I remember thinking how much cooler the Japanese stuff looked than the same old Detroit barges. I wound up driving a 510 for awhile along with a couple of other Nissans over the years. In my opinion they're about the best bang-for-buck cars on the road, followed by new Hyundai's.

Comparing the '70 510 to a '69 Toyota Corona I had, I think the Toyota was faster and better looking. but the Datsun was as close to bulletproof I've seen.

 

[34449]

My '73 Datsun pickup once carried, me, my buddy, my buddy's 400CC Yamaha and various assorted possessions non-stop from central Texas to Upstate NY without problem. Eventually all the abuse caught up to it and in '80 it blew a head gasket, but all and all a remarkably sturdy little vehicle.

 

[sarnali]

Re: *****! Somebody might be takin' me seriously...How'd that happen.

I meant the other guy, not you.

We know who you are........