Huntington Dealership in Daewoo’s U.S. Debut

North America’s newest automobile retailer, Daewoo, opened its first U.S. showrooms Monday, including its only Orange County location, on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach.

The South Korean car maker has set itself apart from other auto companies by selling through company-owned dealerships and by using a cadre of sales representatives who attend colleges across the country and will sell cars to fellow students and others using many of the same sales techniques that made Tupperware and Avon successful.

Compton-based Daewoo Motor America is launching sales with three models, from $9,000 to $20,000. The subcompact, compact and mid-size cars come in sedan, station wagon and hatchback coupe styles.

Kim Woo Chong, chairman of Daewoo Group, the car company’s parent, said Monday that Daewoo Motor intends to sell compact and mid-size sport-utility vehicles in the U.S. in less than two years. They will be sold as 2001 models.

Daewoo has said it hopes to sell 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles in the U.S. in its first full year of sales, then about 100,000 a year by 2001, when its national sales network is complete and the trucks are in the lineup, Kim said.

The company dealerships will operate as a one-price, no-haggling automobile retail store. Among the 15 showrooms opened in major national markets Monday are stores in Van Nuys, Ontario and San Diego.