For those of you who drove a Japanese import in the 60’s/70’s/early 80’s, did you get any heat from family/friends/coworkers/general public about your choice of car? How bad was it? What were some of the consequences and what was the most extreme example you’ve seen or heard of?
This question applies to americans as well as some western europeans, whose auto industries were also in decline with the exception of germany.
This discussion might also be a good predictor of what will await the first owners of chinese cars when they do arrive in north america.
In the US most of my friends in the 90’s who were from WASP families drove your typical American cars while lawyer dads and accountant dads drove Lexus, and most of the middle income colored people drove Camry or Corollas or Civic/Accord. Even when I was in college most of us drove Corolla or Civic, only a few rare kids would drive American cars but they mostly inherited their cars from their American parents.
Korea however is a very, very different story. Driving a “Jap” car is seriously frowned upon and are targeted for hate crime whenever the Japanese-Korean relationship goes sour. The peak of this was around 2019 where Abe Shinzo was going way too far right and the Koreans decided to boycott every Japanese products sold in Korea, which ironically backfired due to that it not only provoked more Japanese people to turn against the Korean market but also the Korean market was and still is very reliant to Japanese products, ultimately having some businesses to go under. The boycott only got worse though and a lot of people targeted Japanese cars and would literally scratch the paint and run away or kick the car to break the bumpers. This was so bad that Nissan’s sale dropped so hard that they left Korea for good and Toyota Lexus dealers were to look for old license plates to sell the cars(to make their customers to give an excuse of “I bought this car before boycott”). Anyways, it was wild.
I recalled Chinese also did the smashing Japanese car thing once when relations went sour over disputed territory.
Like it’s a completely dumb move, you are just damaging your fellow citizens’s personal property.
It’s a dumb move but it was incredibly effective for the people who wants the boycott agenda pushed towards to normal audiences. I’ve seen a lot of Korean locals here sell their Camry and Lexus just because of the fear of having their precious car trashed(Camry here are not your normal car with four wheels and an engine, they are sold as premium brand and has a lot of luxury features in it, usually 30k and up) and it worked. Plus with a rumor that Toyota having a hard time bringing in parts to Korea for repairs, it only got worse.
The only reason why Toyota survived while Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru left is because the latter three used direct dealerships(I think) while Toyota made contracts with local dealerships in Korea. Without that, I’m pretty sure Toyota wouldn’t be shy from leaving the Korean market.
I love how the South Korean elite is basically all descended from the Japanese colonial elite, and that they are in their current positions because their ancestors collaborated with the Japanese, but most Koreans are stupid enough to fall for the same old Japanese boogeyman act every single time people begin to question the rising social inequality and rising corruption. It’s all just an act to distract them and they take the bait every single damn time.
Ironically, Korean is most people to travel Japan.