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Show hosts ridicule Korean cars with a model car made of washing machines and refrigerators.
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Korean automakers are inflamed at a damning report of Korean automobiles by "Top Gear," a hugely popular U.K. motoring program that straddles the line between entertainment and factual reportage, which recently compared domestically produced cars to refridgerators on wheels.
The BBC 2 show, known for its presenters' strong personalities, wit and well-informed but subjective reporting, occasionally targets brands or auto groups and derides them with numerous motor hobbyist gags.
On its Sunday evening program screened over the extended Christmas holiday, "Top Gear" placed Korea's Hyundai and Kia and Malaysia's Proton on the chopping block in an episode entitled, "Pacific Rim Cars," which critics argue was an unfair representation.
Local car manufacturers are also concerned about how much of an impact the show's one-sided anaysis will have given its high ratings, and why it apparently contradicts an earlier "Top Gear" report that praised a new Hyundai model as peerless within a certain price bracket.
An industry official said that the program was relentlessly provocative, with presenters claiming that Korean cars were cheap because they were built with inferior materials and parts. At one point, viewers were recommended to opt for a two-year-old Volkswagen Golf instead of a new Korean model if they wanted to buy a cheap car.
The program hosts even brought a refrigerator on wheels into the studio, remarking that this was how cars were made in Korea.
On hearing the news, Korean carmakers such as Hyundai, whose "Getz" (Click) suffered concentrated derision at the hands of the program's hosts, rapidly contacted their UK offices to confirm what was said and ascertain what the program's intentions were.
In the case of Hyundai, Korea's flagship carmaker, the firm was perplexed after it received a report on the matter from its UK branch, which played down the report by descibing the program as a purely entertainment-based show - more intent on making viewers laugh than conveying the facts.
Although fairly accurate, the report seemed to ignore the high regard with which the show, and particularly host and newspaper columnist Jeremy Clarkson, is held.
Industry officials say the program has previously singled out many famous foreign auto brands like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Lexus and Peugeot and subjected them to excessive criticism, so this should not be considered an isolated attack.
"Just by looking at what the program said, there was clearly some distorted information, so there are some problems," said one Hyundai official.
"However, as the show is completely of an entertainment character lacking in seriousness, it might appear odd to respond in a serious manner.
"The program dealt with our Tiburon and the Lexus SC430 during a recent broadcast, praising the Tiburon as the best sports car under US$100,000 [W104.1 million] while seriously deriding the Lexus.
"Despite this, not one famous foreign carmaker that has been slated on the program, including Lexus, has ever responded with a lawsuit or anything of that nature," he added.
Meanwhile, the show's merciless critique has led to conspiracy theories within the domestic industry, with some suggesting it was designed to check the skyrocketing sales of cars like the Hyundai Getz in Britain and Europe.
Hyundai will watch how the BBC responds and how the situation develops after issuing protests to the broadcasting station and the program's producers through its dealerships in the UK.
Hyundai sold over 120,000 units of its "Getz" model in Europe this year, setting a company record as the first model to break the 100,000-barrier in annual European sales.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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