Editing Asia Motors (section)

==History== 
[[File:Kia Motors South Korea factory.jpg|thumb|left|Kia's Gwangju plant, pictured in 2016, the former site of Asia Motors]]
In 1962,  as one of the measures to comply its First Five-Year Economic Development Plan, the Korean government passed a law exempting from taxes imported parts to assemble [[Knock-down kit|KD]] cars locally.<ref name=a>{{cite journal |date=May 1992 |last=Green |first=Andrew E. |title=South Korea's Automobile Industry: Development and Prospects |volume=32 |issue=5 |journal=Asian Survey |publisher=University of California Press |pages=413–414, 417 |jstor=2644974 |doi=10.2307/2644974 |issn=1533-838X}}</ref><ref name="SM">{{cite book |last=Kim |first=Linsu |title=Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea's Technological Learning |year=1997 |publisher=[[Harvard Business Press]] |chapter=The Automobile Industry Crisis Construction and Technological Learning |isbn=0-87584-574-6 |page=107}}</ref> In 1965, as a result of these incentives,  Asia Motor Industries was established in [[Gwangju]] through the financial support of entrepreneur Lee Mun-hwan.<ref name=m>{{cite web |url=http://magazine.hankyung.com/business/apps/news?popup=0&nid=01&nkey=2014070300969000351&mode=sub_view |title=미완으로 끝난 봉고·프라이드 신화 |trans-title=Bongo/Pride, an unfinished myth |work=magazin.hankyung.com |language=ko |publisher=Korea Economic Magazine |date=23 June 2014 |access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gwangjunewsgic.com/features/profile/a-look-at-a-local-giant-kia-motors/|title=A Look at a Local Giant: KIA Motors |last=Chiarella |first=Jonathan Joseph |publisher=Guanju News Online |date=14 June 2016 |access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref> The company was initially manufacturing military vehicles, trucks and buses but soon it began negotiations with [[Fiat]]  and in 1970 it started to assemble [[Fiat 124]] models.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kang |first=Tong-su |title=Government policies and corporate strategies under structural changes and dynamism: the cases of Korea and China |year=2008 |publisher=[[Korea Development Institute]] |isbn=978-8-980-63342-5 |page=98}}</ref><ref name=j>{{cite web |url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2910295 |title=The old, reliable Fiat 124 - except made in Korea |last=Lee |first=Ho-jeong |work=[[Korea JoongAng Daily]] |date=21 September 2009 |access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref> It diversified into the SUV and heavy vehicles market, including large and medium duty trucks, special military vehicles, lightweight cars, civilian [[Jeep#History|jeeps]] (a small [[jeep]] look-alike called the [[Asia Rocsta|Rocsta]] and later the Retona), motor vehicle components, to include engines, and buses and mini-buses. In 1969, Asia Motors was acquired by [[Dongkuk Steel]].<ref name=m/> In 1973, the South Korean government launched a plan to promote the production of low-cost cars for export. Asia Motors was unable to satisfy the plan's conditions,<ref name=Book/> losing its car assembly permits,<ref>{{cite book |date=2013 |editor1-first=Ben |editor1-last=Fine |editor2-first=Jyoti |editor2-last=Saraswati |editor3-first=Daniela |editor3-last=Tavasci |last=Lee |first=Kwon-Hyung |title=Beyond the Developmental State: Industrial Policy into the Twenty-first Century |chapter=An Alternative Perspective on Industrial Policy: The Case of the South Korean Car Industry |publisher=Pluto Press |pages=61–84 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt183p1qv.6 |isbn=978-1-84964-900-1}}</ref>  and was purchased by Kia in 1976,<ref name=Book>{{cite book |last1=Lansbury |first1=Russell D. |last2=Suh |first2=Chung-Sok |last3=Kwong |first3=Seung-Ho |title=The Global Korean Motor Industry: The Hyundai Motor Company's Global Strategy |year=2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |chapter=Hyundai Motors as a global auto company |series=Routledge Advances in Korean Studies |isbn=978-0-415-41366-4 |page=50}}</ref> as the government promised Kia, in exchange of doing so, a monopoly of the military vehicle production for South Korea.<ref name=a/> In 1978, Asia Motors signed an agreement with [[Hino Motors]] of Japan with the aim of achieving [[economies of scale]] for its low-volume products.<ref name=m/>  [[Hyundai Motor Company|Hyundai]] in turn purchased Kia and the Asia brand was discontinued in 1999. The Rocsta's replacement, the [[Asia Retona|Retona]], was sold under the Kia brand.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

===Failed Brazilian production===
In 1994, Asia Motors do Brasil, an independent importer of Asia vehicles, was established in Brazil. Asia Motors do Brasil achieved some sales success and, in 1996, it signed an agreement with the Brazilian government for building an assembly plant at [[Camaçari]] in exchange of tax exemptions for imported vehicles. The plant was never completed, and the unpaid taxes prevented Kia's parent company Hyundai from building a factory in the country until 2012, when the Brazilian justice determined Hyundai was not bound to pay them, as it was not related to the importer. The first Hyundai owned factory in Brazil was opened in 2012 in Piracicaba, having produced only the HB20 (including the HB20S notchback and the off-road themed HB20X derivatives) and the Creta, while Kia vehicles for sale in Brazil are all imported from South Korea and Uruguay.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://exame.abril.com.br/negocios/oito-marcas-de-carros-que-decidiram-abandonar-o-brasil/ |title=Oito marcas de carros que decidiram abandonar o Brasil |trans-title=Eight car marques that decided to leave Brazil |work=exame.abril.br |language=pt |publisher=Abril |date=25 January 2014 |access-date=24 December 2018 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225080827/https://exame.abril.com.br/negocios/oito-marcas-de-carros-que-decidiram-abandonar-o-brasil/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>