Daewoo Prince

General Motors–Daewoo introduced the Prince as a deliberate step up from the Daewoo Royale, aiming to carve out a new niche between mainstream family sedans and full-luxury offerings. Despite bearing the Daewoo badge, the car’s engineering was strongly influenced by GM’s global mid-size architecture of the period, giving it more sophisticated suspension and soundproofing than earlier Korean products.

At a length of 4,800 mm, the Prince wore crisp three-box styling that visually lengthened the car, yet its 1,720 mm width and 1,425 mm height kept proportions tidy. Curb weight of 1,280 kg made it relatively light for its class, translating to sprightly response from the larger four-cylinder engines that topped the range.

The Prince’s short production run ended when Daewoo refocused on compact and subcompact segments, but its market slot was soon occupied by the more opulent SsangYong Chairman. Even so, the Prince is remembered as a brief but significant step in Korean luxury-car evolution, showcasing the first serious application of GM noise-vibration-harshness know-how to a Korean chassis.