Daewoo Royale Daewoo Royale The Daewoo Royale is a series of Executive cars that was produced by Daewoo in South Korea from 1983, being replaced by the Daewoo Prince in 1991, although production of the top-line Daewoo Imperial continued until 1993. The Royale's predecessor was launched in 1972 by General Motors Korea (GMK) as the Rekord, becoming the Saehan Rekord in 1976 when Saehan Motors replaced GMK, until production ended in 1978. This car was a version of the German Opel Rekord D. The second generation Saehan Rekord was a development of the Opel Rekord E. Production began in 1978, along with
Daewoo Motors was launched, the first Daewoo model to be produced in their then new Kunsan motor plant. It was designed by the Italian-based I.DE.A Institute. In March 1997, the mid-sized Leganza followed, also designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, borrowing some styling cues from the existing 1990 Jaguar Kensington concept car. In 1998 one of Daewoo's best known cars was introduced, the Matiz. The design was again signed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and based on his 1992 "Lucciola" concept car, which was initially imagined as a replacement for the Fiat Cinquecento. This car became Daewoo Motor's best-seller for the next four years. In 1999,