Daewoo Motors’ small car Matiz, which is manufactured in Korea and India, has won a unique honour recently. The British Broadcasting Corporation has selected the car as the "best small car of the year". Matiz pipped nine recently introduced models worldwide to win the title in an auto programme, Top Gear, telecast by BBC.

The models vying for the top honour included Kia’s Pride, Hyundai’s Atos, Rover’s Mini, Ford’s Ka, Volkswagen’s Lupo, Fiat’s Cicento, Daihatsu’s Kore and Toyota’s Yaris. Matiz met the evaluation standards for the best car in terms of its performance, fuel efficiency, design, convenience of parking, price, and after sales service. In the UK, Matiz holds the second position in terms of sales.

Matiz is at present made by Daewoo Motors of Korea and its Indian arm, Daewoo Motors India. The car is exported from both countries. While the export volume from Korea is huge – 1.63 lakh cars in April-October 1999 – the Indian company has been exporting engines and gear boxes for the car to several countries. It has recently made a beginning in sending the first consignment of 300 assembled cars to Egypt and 50 to Sri Lanka. It has orders on hand for export to European countries.

Daewoo Korea has announced that in the years to come the Indian unit will function as an export hub for the company and a key growth point in Daewoo’s global strategy.