OMG! I finally get to share the Daewoo ad! (Keep in mind, the order of these articles is random. It just so happens that the Daewoo ad is next.)

Wait.

What?

You don’t know/remember Daewoo?

Well, I can’t blame you. I think it’s been years since I’ve seen one on the roads here in the States.

Okay. It’s time for a little bit of history.

Daewoo was a South Korean car company, though not as large and successful as Hyundai or Kia. The company’s ownership changed hands several times since the early ’80s.

Included in that were alliances with other carmakers, most notably General Motors. As a result, some older Daewoo models were rebadged GM cars (like the 1986 Daewoo LeMans, which we had here in the states as the Pontiac LeMans, both of which were based on the Opel Kadett, but I’m getting into the weeds there).

From 1997 to 2002, Daewoo tried to break into the U.S. market with its own lineup of small, cheap cars, like the Nubira and Leganza (not re-badged GMs).

In this ad from August of 2001, Daewoo is showing off its new mini crossover that you can help name!

The “totally new” car being advertised as “the best of an SUV, a minivan and a station wagon” was eventually named the Tacuma or Rezzo, depending on the market in which it was sold. I don’t recall the Tacuma or Rezzo ever being sold in the U.S. as Daewoo left the market shortly after this ad appeared (but I could be wrong — if these things were actually sold here, I’d love to know more in the comments).

Of course, Daewoo wants you to have a vested interest in the car by submitting your suggestion for naming it by going to DaewooUS.com.

Daewoo has long since departed the U.S. market, and GM eventually acquired what was left of the brand and it’s now known as GM Korea.

So what happened to the website? Well, here’s what it looks like today:

Not surprisingly, the site no longer exists as a portal for the brand. Instead, it’s one of these “parked” sites that contains links of dubious quality to things that sound vaguely related to the site’s original purpose.

I suppose if there’s some serious Daewoo fan out there (ha!), they might be able to buy the domain from the current holder. But I wouldn’t put money on that happening any time soon.