Jayatsu Motor Company

From Wikislippy

Jayatsu Motor Company is a Korean manufacturer of automobiles. Jayatsu Motor Company was originally founded in 1980 as So Motors.

So Motors

So Motors was created in 1980 as an experiment. It was a test to see if So Manufacturing could create a successful car. The car was the So Shi-Tei. The Shi-Tei was a compact car powered by the Si4. The Shi-Tei turned out to be a minor success until 1987 when sales began to fall. Production of the Shi-Tei stopped in January 1994.

The Shi-Tei was brought back into production in 2002 by Am-Kor Limited. Am-Kor has turned the Shi-Tei into a minor success. Outside of Korea, the car is known as the So Car. So Motors announced an electric version in 2008 named the So EC-1.

Jayatsu

In early 2009, So International was purchased by Jayatsu Industrial. So International was merged with Jayatsu Industrial and the mane was changed to Jayatsu Manufacturing. Soon after, So Motors was renamed Jayatsu Motor Company.

Jayatsu announced that production of the Shi-Tei will end by 2010 and will be replaced with a new model. Jayatsu is also keeping the So EC-1 in development and is still planning to be released in the United States. However, the So EC-1 may have a name change before it is released.

Partnership

In 1985, Toyota was showing interest in a partnership with So. However, by 1988 the Shi-Tei was selling badly and no deal was made.

A partnership was announced in 2001 with General Motors and Am-Kor Automotive. The deal would see the Shi-Tei produced and sold in North America. However, the deal fell through and General Motors bought Daewoo, also a Korean car company and formed GM Daewoo. Rumors say that the car would wave been called the Pontiac Pacific.

Am-Kor Limited is pushing the Shi-Tei to be sold in North America and hopes to have it on sale by 2010. In early 2009, So Motors made a partnership deal with Richards Motor Company. RMC plans to sell the So EC-1 as the RMC Charge.