Kishiwo Motor Group
History
Kishiwo was founded by Ji Jung Shinn in early 1970, as he was given the kitchen appliances focused manufactur of his father after he deceased. He named the company Kishiwo based on the name of his mother Ki, the three first letters of his surname shi, and the surname of his wifes family wong.
The ng at the end was trashed after a small market randomly applied for trademarking as Kishiwong so Kishiwo was lead to its name as a forced change.After changing from producing stuff like stoves to cars licensed by Mashimitsu, a japanese company, in 1972, the first Kishiwo rolled to the first dealership in Seoul on january 19, 1973!
In the 70s, Kishiwo started to gain marketshare in its homemarket and in 1977, under the presure of an expired license of the allowance to badgeengineer Mashimitsu`s, Shinn hired some staff and they started to engineer their very first car, the Cetu, which turned out to be a success, lasting in the korean market from its release in 1979, until 1988, when Kishiwo decided to kill of the Cetu name in favor of the larger Lagor, a sedan released in 1986, Kishiwos second selfengineerd car. In 1990, Kishiwo trashed their last badgeengineered car, the old gen Watar, based on a Mashimitsu out of the 1970s.
Then there where the late 1990s, where the Asian financial crisis hit Kishiwo at a weak point in time, as the first generation Privo was the only strong seller, because the third generation Lagor was delayed by a year and the second generation showed its age. Also Kishiwo just risked it all, just a year earlier, by expanding Shinn, who actually wanted to give dauther Yon the CEO position and retire, on the desicion, if he should file for bancruptcy, as the have been loosing money frequently since a year.
But then, former business partner Mashimitsu offered to aquire 40% of Kishiwo, and Shinn accepted the deal.
Shinn retired in 1999, giving his leadership to his only daughter Yon. She had major plans with the company and started to work on the project: Kishiwo - a dominant force. In the same year, Kishiwo sold their first million, with the one millionst car beeing a first generation Privo, used as a taxi in Incheon, that is now in the ownership of Ji Jung Shinn. Little did they know, that one million would not be something special in the future.
In 2000, Kishiwo started to fully operate again, with the third generation of ther best seller Lagor launched. Shinn (from now on Yon) started a major expansion to south america, to sell more basic versions of their own offerings, aswell as expanding futher into Europe and Russia. Then in 2003 Mashimitsu wanted Shinn to sell them another 10.1%, so they could integrate Kishiwo into the Mashimitsu Motor Coporation, but Shinn denied the offer she got, as she had other plans. Later that year, Kishiwo and Mashimitsu worked together and released a joint venture, the Mijas was born.
With sales rising in nearly all current markets, Shinn decided that it was time to expand again, by building a network in India and Mexico, increasing the ones in China, the US and western Europe. Then in 2008, whilest Kishiwo was holding up just fine, as their current line up was suited for the financial crisis in the western hemisphere, Mashimitsu, with the US beeing their biggest market, was hit hard, selling 20% less then the years before, Kishiwo used the chance and bought back, what Mashimitsu got in the 90s and even making profit whilest purchasing.
The next few years, Kishiwo rose and in 2011, Shinn decided to launch an upmarket luxury brand and called it Volerant, which is based on the surname Vole, a former lover of Shinn.
A year later, as sales in Europe did not recover as fast, as hoped, Kishiwa aquired Sunnet from Mashimitsu, as the japanese company just was not getting back on track as fast as hoped. Sunnet is a spanish car company that only sells in western Europe, Russia and Turkey. But after the takeover, Sunnet got its chance on expanding under the rule of Shinn.
In the 10s, Kishiwo sales increased more and more, hitting a million yearly sales in 2012 and strikingly gaining another million up to 2 Million yearly sales in 2015 and just stayiny at around 2.9 million sales in 2019, Kishiwos most successfull year so far.
In April 2020, Mashimitsu was asking the japanese government for funds to safe the Company from bancruptcy, but the japanese government denied. The brands major markets got hit hard by Covid-19 and sales in 2020 where down 70%. Then, only a few days before beeing unable to corporate, Shinn decided to buy a 51% share of the Mashimitsu Motor Company with the dealmaker beeing to incorporate the former supercompany into Kishiwo by may 2020.
Brands
Kishiwo korean mass market brand
Volerant korean semi premium brand
Sunnet spanish sporty mass market brand (bought after the financial crisis in `12)
newly aquired in the 2020 Mashimistu buyout
Mashimistu japanese mass market brand (former license contributor, now under Kishiwo lead)
Dohgu chinese SUV and Van maker (only active in Chinese domestic market)
Akai japanese lifestyle and upmarket brand
SFB german upmarket brand, only strong seller of former MMC after economical crisis in 09.
Line Ups
Current Kishiwo line up
cars
2015-present Nitis a-segment hatch
2014-present Mijas b-segment hatch/sedan
2020-present Privo c-segment hatch/sedan/wagon
2018-present Lagor d-segment sedan/wagon/convertible/coupe
2016-present Sager e-segment sedan/wagon/coupe
more coming soonSUV´s
2018-present Tudor b-segment CUV
2019-present Cantu c-segment SUV
2016-present Nardo c-segment CUV
2010-2020 Watar c-segment offroader
2017-present Mayor d-segment SUV
2017-present Embol e-segment SUV
more coming soontrucks and vans
coming soon
current Volerant line up
coming soon
current Sunnet line up
coming soon
