Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities cars and ships and operating steel works. The South Korean state encouraged large and paternalistic conglomerates to use their capital to expand into unrelated businesses, protected by high tariff barriers and arcane regulations. In this way the car and steel giant Daewoo branched out into dealing in securities. In the 1990s this strategy hit problems as South Korea opened its markets to foreign competition and at the same time the founders of these conglomerates grew too old to run their creations and passed the reins on to their less focused children. Daewoo Securities was spun off from the Daewoo Corporation
Daewoo LeMans while the three-door was called Daewoo Racer and only the sedan was called LeMans. Korean market cars received a 1.5-litre engine (with ) as there was a severe tax penalty for cars with larger engines. In October 1991 the LeMans received a facelift, with a reworked front and superficially changed taillights. This version was called the Asüna SE/GT in the Canadian market, where it replaced the Passport Optima. When South Korean production of the original LeMans finally came to an end in February 1997, over 1 million had been built. This car was sold in Australia as the "Daewoo 1.5i",