| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bought out |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Defunct | 1984 |
| Headquarters | South Korea |
| Products | Automobiles |
Shinjin (Korean: 신진) is a former car manufacturer from South Korea.
Founded in 1955, and the same bus manufacturer was "Shinjin Bus Manufacturing Company" is an independent company and is now a part of the Daewoo Motors Bus Division.
Contents |
The Shinjin Industrial Company started as a parts producer in 1954, branching into the automotive field in 1958 as a rebuilder for the U.S. Army, with actual assembly commencing in 1962.[1] Starting in 1963, Shinjin started manufacture of the "Shinsungho", a small limousine-type passenger car.[1]
The Shinjin Automobile Company division started in 1964,[1] when Shinjin was selected by the Government of South Korea as the company delegated to implement its "Automotive Industry Promotion Law" (1962).[1][2] Under this legislation, the importation of assembled automobiles was outlawed, subsidies were made available to assemblers who were also afforded tariff exemption on the importation of parts.[3] Responsibility for deciding which firms would be authorized to undertake automobile manufacturing was held by the Minister of Trade and Industry, who opted to appoint just one company to maximize economies of scale.[3] The minister initially favored the Sammi Corporation.[2] Preference was shifted to Saenara Motors after the latter made alleged political contributions to the party recently established by the military government.[2] Consequently, Saenara signed an agreement with Nissan[3] who provided the company with technical assistance and a US$35 million loan to assist in the construction of a factory in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon[4] where Saenara began assembling Nissan Bluebird kits.[2] Workshops were restructured after encountering difficulties producing the parts required, but by 1963 Saenara could not evade bankruptcy any further.[4] As a result, Shinjin took over Saenara in 1964[5] and was reassigned as the authorized producer.[2][1] The selection of the Shinjin bid was again attributed to sizeable contribution to the political party in power.[5][2] However, according to Odaka (1983), the government's selection appears to have made provision for the technological capability of Shinjin.[1]
Shinsungho models continued until 1966, when Shinjin ventured into the assembly of complete knock down (CKD) automobiles, by which time 318 Shinsungho cars had been produced.[1] These CKD kits were supplied by Mitsubishi,[2] and 21 percent local parts content was achieved.[1] However, a year later this arrangement was terminated and a new foreign venture was established with Toyota.[2] This resulted in models such as the Toyota Corona being produced.[1] In December 1966, the government decided to terminate the monopoly held by Shinjin by approving a further three companies to commence passenger car production: Asia Motors, Kia and Hyundai.[5] The cessation of this monopoly, in conjunction with technological relationships with foreign corporations, substantially uplifted the total automotive industry output in South Korea to 33,000 units in 1969,[6] up from 7,400 in 1966.[5] However, as production numbers started to decline, the government implemented new measures to promote growth.[6] This included permission for the transfer of Toyota's shares in Shinjin to General Motors in 1972.[6] This ownership transfer was necessitated due to Toyota's wish to move into the Chinese market[2]—the People's Republic of China prohibited companies operating in South Korea and Taiwan from operating in mainland China as well.[2] The new partnership sought with General Motors, resulted in the 50-50 General Motors Korea (GMK) joint venture.[7] Due to financial difficulties, Shinjin sold its stake of GMK in November 1976 to the Korea Development Bank (KBD), and GMK was retitled Saehan Motors.[1][8] The KBD later sold this equity stake onto the Daewoo Group in 1978.[8]
In April 1974, a separate 50-50 alliance was setup between Shinjin and the American Motor Company (AMC), known as Shinjin Jeep Motors.[9] The following month, Shinjin entered into a technical partnership contract with AMC, and in October 1974, production of hard and softtop Jeeps commenced.[10] In March 1979 AMC relinquished its stake in the firm as it became a domestic corporation and its name was subsequently changed to Shinjin Motors.[11] The corporation was renamed once again in February 1981 to Geohwa Co.,[11] which was taken over by Dong-A Motors in December 1984.[10] This acquisition resulted in the "Dong-A" nameplate being applied to all South Korean manufactured Jeeps from 1985.[12] When the SsangYong Group chaebol purchased Dong-A in September 1986, the firm was subsequently renamed "SsangYong Motor Company" in March 1988. At the same time, all "Jeeps" produced by the former Shinjin/Geohwa under the "Dong-A" trademark were re-branded "SsangYong".[12]
The first model of the brand was the Shinjin Publica and was presented early as 1965; in 1966 mass production began. The model is a license of the Toyota Publica model. The same year also start production of the Shinjin Corona, a mid-size sedan with a 44 metric horsepower (32 kW) engine. In the same class, Shinjin also produced the Fiat 124. in 1967, the manufacturer established its first luxury car, the Shinjin Crown, which was again adjusted however one year later. In 1971 Shinjin released the Shinjin New Crown in a second attempt to enter this luxury segment. But this was again unsuccessful.
From now on, Shinjin began assembly of vehicles and engines form the German subsidiary of GM, Opel. These Opel models were popular in South Korea. In 1972, the Shinjin Record was released in two separated model versions, 1900 (based on the Rekord D) and the Royale (based on the Commodore B). Production of both sedans ended in 1978.
In the compact class, Shinjin produced the Opel Kadett C as the Shinjin Maepsy.