Car companies today often brandish the spell of a global model . We hear this especially often from Ford, Renault and Fiat. And the Italian manufacturer is one of the forefathers of today's massive unification. After all, his 124 model was produced by Spanish Seat, Indian Premier, Russian AvtoVAZ, Turkish Tofas and even South Korean Asia Motors. And it is the Asia-Fiat 124 that will interest us the most today.
Asia Motors was founded in 1965 as a manufacturer of utility and off-road vehicles , respectively buses. Similar to other South Korean brands of the time, namely Shinjin Motor and Hyundai , Asia Motors also planned to produce passenger cars. However, since the development of a completely new model is very financially demanding and the young car company did not have that much money, it chose a more feasible way of cooperation with a renowned global manufacturer. After all, at the time, Hyundai was license-producing Fords and Shinjins to replace Toyota. Asia Motors chose as a partner the Italian Fiat , whose hit was the cosmopolitan sedan 124, then already produced under the Lada and Seat brands.
Negotiations for a license began practically immediately after the founding of the Asian car company, but the already mentioned lack of funds and the transition to a new owner in 1969 delayed the start of production until 1970 . 30 percent of the parts were assembled directly in Korea, the rest imported from Italy. At first glance, the Asia-Fiat 124 was indistinguishable from the original. Under the hood was a liquid-cooled 1200 with a power of 65 hp and a torque of 94 Nm. The rear wheels were driven by a four-speed mechanical transmission , which allowed a maximum speed of 145 km/h and a sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in 16 seconds.
In the first year, Asia Motors produced 1,737 Fiat 124s, in the next two years production grew to a total of 6,775 cars . In 1973, the license agreement with the South Koreans expired, which Fiat did not renew. Asia Motors again fell into financial trouble and in 1976 became part of the Kia car company. Therefore, the South Korean 124 is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Kia-Fiat 124 . By the way, just like the Italians or the Russians, the South Koreans praised the 4030 mm long model for its spaciousness, durability and comfortable chassis.
Source: koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, auta5p.eu, fiat124.nl
