As a child in the early '80s, I remember spending a summer in Seoul and taking a trip with relatives to the countryside in a Hyundai Pony, South Korea's first homegrown car. I spoke no Korean, but learned one word quickly enough: "lemon".

Hyundai Motor has certainly come a long way since then.

Thirty-four years after introducing the Pony hatchback at the Turin Motor Show, Hyundai is the world's fourth-largest carmaker, surpassing Ford Motor in the first half of this year. With the rest of the industry reeling from slumping sales, Hyundai's charge has been especially conspicuous this year as it grabbed market share across the world and even made record profits in the latest quarter.

As my colleague Cheon Jong-woo and I wrote last week, Hyundai's rise is making Japanese rivals nervous.

While Hyundai's mounting success, founded on offering quality products at cheaper prices, has been in the cards for a while now, there are two new factors that worry the Japanese: a strong yen, coupled with the new government's apparent indifference towards it, and South Korea's progress in sealing free trade pacts.

"I think there's a sense of crisis in the whole (Japanese) industry," top Nissan Motor executive Toshiyuki Shiga said recently. "Whether you take the FTAs (free trade agreements) or foreign exchange policy, I get the impression that South Korea is tackling things well."

But if anybody is feeling the most pressure, it might be Toyota Motor, the world's biggest carmaker.

Several years ago, when I asked a top executive at Toyota's U.S. operations about the South Korean automaker's rising fortunes, he responded point blank that Hyundai was one of his biggest concerns.

"Honda and Nissan are also formidable rivals, but they have a distinct business approach and profile from us," Yukitoshi Funo, now executive vice president at Toyota, had said. "Hyundai, meanwhile, is essentially doing what we're doing."

Funo said then that rather than competing on prices, Toyota would have to focus on "brand and value".

On that front, Toyota is still a head above the rest. Interbrand valued Toyota's brand at $31.3 billion this year, nearly seven times that of Hyundai's, which ranked eighth among carmakers.

To be sure, Hyundai has a long way to catch up to Toyota and Honda on fundamental, longer-term strength. But with a role model like Toyota and a more supportive government, it's certain to keep rivals on their toes.

Photo credits: John Gress/REUTERS; Jo Yong hak/REUTERS; Yuriko Nakao/REUTERS

Blog Guy, I'm about to graduate from college in December, and I could use some career advice. I know you're great at that.

Well, it depends on what you studied, of course. We need doctors, teachers, engineers....

I majored in creative writing and film studies.

Oh. Have you considered the carwash?

Yeah, but I have only a B-minus average, so the better carwashes won't even look at me.

Not to worry. There's always the carwash in Afghanistan, as you can see in these photos. Plenty of new business, too, since the average car in Kabul lasts four and a half minutes.

Awesome! Thanks for the advice! Say, why are these pictures in black and white, anyway?

I believe they ARE in color, but that's just how color looks in Afghanistan.

Thanks, I can't wait... You want rust-proofing too, sir?

Afghan carwash slideshow

Dare to be average! Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Tweat yourself to this blog on Twitter at rbasler

Above: Workers clean a car along Qabri Gora Road in Kabul, November 2, 2009. With Kabul's busy and dusty roads, business is always assured at the carwash.

Below: A customer (R) waits while his car is being washed.

REUTERS photos by Jerry Lampen

More stuff from Oddly Enough

When it comes to competition in the auto business, it's the unknown that keeps the top U.S. Honda executive, John Mendel, up at night.

Mendel, speaking to the Reuters Auto Summit in Detroit, said he is always concerned about the conventional competitors. But what he is really afraid of is a company that "changes the game."

"What keeps me up regarding new competition is someone significantly changing the game," Mendel said.

People mention an autoseller taking up dealers dropped by General Motors, Chrysler or Saturn.

"What if they didn't have a dealer network," Mendel said. "What if they used big-box retailers and contracted with Jiffy Lube to have your car fixed?

"That could be a really new metric, which suddenly changes the whole cost structure for distribution significantly," said the Honda executive.

That has been tried before, by Sears, in the 1950s, but was killed by the complex state franchise laws that protect dealership networks.

Would such an idea work if tried by the Walmarts or the Costcos of the world? Should the U.S. state franchise laws be changed to allow it?

Mendel was a featured guest at this year's Reuters Autos Summit, which runs through Thursday in Paris and Detroit.

Toyota Motor Europe President and CEO Tadashi Arashima talked to Reuters Financial Television during the Auto Summit in Paris. See here.

The world's biggest carmaker, Toyota, will not follow the road of McDonald's and abandon Iceland even though it is selling 'very few' cars there at the moment and its distributor has been seized by the banks as its owner went belly-up, Toyota Motor Europe President and CEO Tadashi Arashima told the Reuters Auto Summit in Paris on Tuesday.

"We have a big market share there, of 25 percent, and it is good for our after-sales," Arashima said.

The banks are trying to sell the distributor but Toyota does not plan to take ownership like it does in its key European markets of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and some Scandinavian countries.
 

Arashima said he believes the Russian market will recover sooner than many think, after the west European markets but well before the rest of East Europe -- in 2011 or 2012.

In West Europe he does not see signs yet of a return of consumer confidence leading people to buy more expensive items such as cars and the showrooms remain quiet.

Europe traditionally had a low priority for Toyota, which mainly focused on the big U.S. market, and Arashima still has problems convincing  headquarters in Toyota City that Europeans like diesel engines which are far from popular in Japan and the States.

It now produces cars in Britain and France and makes some 60 to 70 percent of its sales locally.

But the Lexus luxury brand is not really taking off in Europe as it competes with German rivals that have diesel, and has rather big engines that Europeans have started to dislike.

In the U.S. however, big is still beautiful. "Even though Americans drive slowly they still love big engines," Arashima said.

Valeo generates 18 percent of its sales in Asia, and 7 percent in China alone, and that percentage will increase due to fast organic growth in these booming markets, but investors still see Valeo as a company anchored in mature European markets.

"They still see us as mainly a west European company," chief executive Jacques Aschenbroich told the Reuters Auto Summit in Paris. But despite a decline in turnover, Valeo is keeping up its research and development spending and is continuing to forge forward countries in China, Thailand, India, Turkey or Brazil.

In China, where Valeo grows at a rate of 20 percent, it recently took full control of a joint-venture that makes compressors and the group is reviewing all its six joint ventures in China as it aims to keep on growing fast. It has 500 million euros of sales in China and employs 5,000 people there.

This may mean fewer jobs in France and the rest of Europe in the end. The group is competing a 500 million euro cost-cut drive and will soon start talks with unions to discuss a simplification of the company.

There was also good news for French employees as Aschenbroich said that there were no 'bleeders' in the firm that needed drastic action and he also said that for many activities of Valeo the wage costs were not the determining factor for the localisation of a plant.

He also put an end to his predecessor's plan to sell assets in order to raise funds for acquisitions.

Firstly, he said disposals were not a stragegy in itself but could be the result of a strategic decision.

And secondly, this is not a good time to sell assets.

A glimmer of light in a world of darkness for stressed-out car industry managers. Jacques Aschenbroich (pronounce Ashenbrough), the new CEO at French car supplier Valeo has been visiting the Frankfurt and Tokyo motorshows, as well as travelling to places such as China.

"This is not a dying industry, this is an industry in strong mutation," is the verdict of the man who joined Valeo in March after a career with construction materials group Saint-Gobain.

For him the future is about smaller cars (in size and engine) that are more comfortable and safer.

In the more immediate future of 2010, he said he looked at the year with caution and added "Everything can happen, even good news."

There is only one market really booming in the world and that is China, pity Peugeot only has a very small market share there.

Nicolas Wertans, deputy managing director of the Peugeot brand at Europe's second-biggest carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, recently went to Beijing.

"It is the only market that is still booming, at more than 70 percent month-on-month," he told the Reuters Automotive Summit. "In fact, China came to the rescue of the automotive world," he said as all carmakers are boosting their sales in that market which is set to become the biggest in the world.

But Peugeot is rather small in China, with a market share of just 1.2/1.3 percent.

PSA in total has a share of 3.5 percent and chief executive Philippe Varin has said this needs to rise to at least 10 percent. To get there, Peugeot is working on a new model, especially designed for the Chinese market.

It will be a sedan, Wertans said, but he declined to give more details.

The car needs to become the flagship model for the market there. "You will hear more in a few weeks," he said.

Color me embarrassed. We had a PRETTY BAD error on our file, and is our policy, we had to publicly correct it. It seems we reported that Bulgarian prosecutors are investigating a new gambling game in which drivers defy death by speeding through red lights for bets of up to $2,200.

In a game known as 'Russian road roulette,' the driver must jump red lights at busy intersections at high speed and not crash into any other cars or pedestrians.

Imagine doing something that stupid for $2,200!

Well, it soon became clear we had it all wrong. It turned out, drivers are playing this game for bets of up to $7,400, which is a lot different from doing it just for chump change like $2,200.

But as insane as this game still sounds, the most amazing part to me is that according to our story, ONLOOKERS bet on the outcome, too!

"Hey Lamar, look! They're havin' one of those Russian road roulette games right here! Think we should get the hell out of the way to save ourselves?"

"Not so fast, Clancy! I'll bet you $200 that red Mustang misses that pedestrian in the Hawaiian shirt... Oops! Well, we didn't shake on it, Clancy..."

Go for the gold. Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Tweat yourself to this blog on Twitter at rbasler

These are just random photos of Bulgarian traffic carnage, not connected to Russian Road Roulette.

Above: Drivers and members of the Bulgarian security service confer after the leading car of the motorcade of the visiting Maltese President Guido de Marco collided with a truck near the village of Mursalevo in a 2001 file photo. REUTERS

Below: A Bulgarian firefighter tries to extinguish a burning taxi whose propane gas tank had caught fire on a motorway in central Sofia in a 2005 file photo. REUTERS

More stuff from Oddly Enough

Quick quiz: If you're a jittery driver, what's a good way to steady your nerves before you hit the road?

• get plenty of sleep
• practice meditation
• think soothing, happy thoughts
• enjoy a refreshing alcoholic beverage

Yeah, I thought that last one was pretty lame myself, but it turns out a politician from Ireland's governing party has said "jumpy" drivers might benefit from having a relaxing alcoholic drink to steady their nerves.

I am not making this up.

See, Ireland is debating whether to cut the legal blood alcohol content limit for motorists, and some members of parliament oppose lowering the limit which would rule out a traditional Irish pint of Guinness for those driving.

"If drink is such a sedative, it can make people who are jumpy on the road, or nervous, be more relaxed," said Mattie McGrath, Fianna Fail's Tipperary South representative.

Right, Mattie. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be crossing the street someday  when one of those really relaxed drivers comes along.

Dare to dream. Join the Oddly Enough blog network

Tweat yourself to this blog on Twitter at rbasler

Above: Guinness Chairman Tony Greener sips from a giant eight pint glass of stout to publicize his company's earnings announcement in a 1997 file photo. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

Below: A racegoer holds a pint of Guinness on St Patrick's Day on the third day of the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival in a 2005 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Finn-Kelcey

More stuff from Oddly Enough