The news was bad when we were in South Korea recently, but the Koreans were smiling.
The bad news was actually filtering through from Europe and America about the collapse of MG Rover, the financial woes of DaimlerChrysler not to mention those of General Motors and Ford and the very survival of Fiat.
Car making, it seems, can be a perilous business carrying a European, American or British identity badge, much more assured if it is of Oriental origin.
The car-makers of South Korea appear to be the new Oriental kids on the block, leaping out in all directions at world markets.
Take Kia with its partner Hyundai, for instance. The duo have a world sales target of five million vehicles annually by 2010 and, if achieved, they will be filling the slot of the world's fifth largest car-maker.
While they were number seven last year Kia was South Korea's bad news story as recently as 1997, going bankrupt or as the official line more diplomatically puts it, "falling victim to the Asian financial crisis."
A merger with Hyundai, making the two manufacturers sister companies, was the solution and by all accounts it's working.
Both maintain a sisterly rivalry but pinning down the differences between the two badges isn't easy or obvious. At a news conference with Kia's top management, that question of just how does a Kia differ from a Hyundai was put.
"Kia is more sporty, for a younger and more adventurous generation", was the polite but curt reply.
That relationship is seen as a piffling matter and something that will evolve in time. Right now, the race is on to conquer the world and Kia for its part is doing it from three Korean plants with combined production of nearly 1.4 million vehicles annually, plus a plethora of assembly operations from Ecuador to Malaysia that add over 600,000 more.
Europe, where car-buying demand is virtually static, is significantly a key area in the expansion plan. It already takes one-third of all Kia's overseas sales and that's going to be boosted with the opening next year of a new €1.1 billion 300,000 cars a year plant in Slovakia, producing a small family model that in styling is set to contradict Kia's current rather bland everyday image.
Before that Kia's new model armoury includes a Rio four and five-door compact sedan in the next few months, and a Carnival MPV in the autumn. "We are only in the warming up phase," remarked Jean-Charles Lievens, who's French and senior vice-president of Kia Motors Europe. "We will have 13 new models by 2010." A few years ago, he was with Toyota Motor Europe. "But I wanted to go faster and now I am with the world's fastest growing car maker."
That's an undisputed fact and it has been in this pole position for the last three years. Kia can also lay claim to be one of the fastest-growing marques on the Irish scene with registrations up 65 per cent for the first four months.
Edward Seo, the new managing director of Kia Ireland is expecting 2,500 new registrations this year. "In line with our global ambition, we are planning to sell around 6,000 cars by 2008 or 3.7 per cent of the market. "The expansion will take place with 35 dealers: there are now 32 with a few to be appointed."
Kia's growth ambitions are tempered with the notion that their cars need to be more interesting or aspirational and perhaps more importantly, have top class quality and reliability.
Korean cars, although they enjoy a three-year 100,000 kilometre warranty, generally lag a bit behind the Japanese here.
"Our objective is to have a Toyota level of quality by 2007," according to Mr Yong-Hwan Kim, Kia's chief operating officer.
As it is, we heard that they now claim to have Nissan quality standards, which can't be too bad.
We visited the Namyang R&D centre which is a shared facility with Hyundai, a focal point in advancing the brand image of both marques. It has 7,000 employees, about half of whom are engineers. Of last year's Kia revenue of over €10 billion, no less than 7 per cent was allocated to research and development.
It was here we were allowed to see, but not photograph, the exterior of the new Bratislavan-built car which undoubtedly will give Kia smarter street cred.
Kia's longer term high-tech future could be with the Sportage FCEV which was exhibited at the Paris motor show last year. Small scale production of around 10,000 vehicles a year is expected from 2010. It offers passenger and cargo space similar to the conventional gasoline Sportage. It has a 300 km range and a top speed of 150km/h (that's 93.2mph).
The ritual factory visit was to the Hwasung plant, spewing out 550,000 cars a year, vehicles like the Cerato, Sorneto and Carens. It's one of Kia's four South Korean plants. "Longbridge was never like this and the workers look happy," commented a British journalist. We couldn't fail to notice the hippy music and smiling faces.
MG Rover is, or was, a mere minnow in the Kia scheme of things, what with the Korean badge going into 155 countries. There are 166 independent distributors and R&D centres, apart from Namyang, located in Los Angeles, Detroit, Russelsheim (Germany) and Chiba (Japan). Kia's new European base that is almost completed - a high rise office block, dominating the Frankfurt Messe, where the motor show is held. Could it be symbolic?
Kia may still be a bit away from its target customer, someone who is "young, self-confident and adventurous with strong individuality, seeking new and diverse experiences."
We came away from Korea awed by this hunger for world domination which statistically at any rate, seems on course for fulfilment.
The Kia motto is "the power to surprise" which is meant to win over the customers to a still unfamiliar brand. There could be "surprise" in other places too, like the automotive board rooms of Europe and America.