Studio Guest: Jürgen Wöhler

Jürgen Wöhler is manager of the Korean-German Chamber of Trade and Industry.Interview with Jürgen Wöhler. DW-TV: For more I’m joined by Jürgen Wöhler, secretary general of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Now, Germany is a car loving nation - but Hyundai didn't exactly rank among the top brands — how did it manage to conquer German car owner's hearts? Jürgen Wöhler: First of all the image of Korea has improved a lot, if you think of Samsung, LG, which from the consumer electronics are the top shelf, and certainly that helped Hyundai. Likewise as the difficult economic situation which makes many consumers coming over the psychological barrier to buy a Korean car. DW-TV: What barrier would that be? Jürgen Wöhler: The image of Korean cars was rather cheap. But that has changed over the time. Korean cars have foreign designers, have a lot of foreign technology, especially German technology, German spare parts inside, and this combined helps to sell in Germany. DW-TV: And how about the other way round. If German technology is so interesting how do German cars fare on the Korean market? Jürgen Wöhler: They do very well, but only in the premium segment. Because with cheap cars, without any luxury stuff, that's very hard to sell in Korea against Korean cars. DW-TV: They can't compete there. Business ties between Germany and South Korea are strong, not just with regards to the automotive sector -- what makes Germans and South Koreans good business partners? Jürgen Wöhler: It's a win win partnership. If you take the ship industry. Korea is the strongest producer in the world, 60% market share. Germany is the biggest buyer of Korean ships, and German companies are the biggest suppliers of spare parts and components to the Korean ship industry. It's the same with electronics. We buy consumer electronics from Korea, and we deliver industrial electronics to Korea. DW-TV: Everything you've just said...let's just illustrate that he...

Channel: Deutsche Welle Video Length: 0s Date Found: Wed, Dec 09 2009 9:20 PM Category: Business Date Produced: View Count: 0