Current and former communist countries have an odd history concerning the manufacture and ownership of cars. For example, cars on the streets of Havana, Cuba, are almost a time capsule of American cars from the 1950s. China is notorious for making cars that are cosmetically similar to legendary German and Italian cars, and Russia gave the world the indestructible Lada 4x4 and GAZ series of off-road vehicles.

North Korea also has a strange relationship with the automotive world. Under Kim il Sung, Kim Jong il and Kim Jong Un, the North Korean people are not permitted to freely own cars. Government officials and the wealthy are the only people you will see driving around the streets of Pyongyang.

Despite the limited number of people who actually have access to a car, North Korea does have an automotive industry. In 1999, the Unification Church of South Korea entered in a joint venture with North Korean companies to form the Pyeonghwa Motors Corp. based in Seoul, South Korea, which also maintains production lines in Nampo, North Korea. According to their website, they started production in 2002 of their Hwiparam compact sedan powered by an 80-hp four-cylinder engine that somehow gets worse fuel economy than a new Ram 1500 pickup.

Next in the lineup is the creatively named Hwiparam II sedan that looks like a BMW 3-series after it was dredged out of the bottom of a lake. This sedan is a vast improvement over the previous generation and is equipped with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder that produces a thundering 110 hp. Their Ppoggugi van is a rebadged Fiat Doblo van that isn’t actually rebadged. It says “FIAT” on the back tailgate, in addition to the Pyeonghwa brand name. The Ppoggugi III pickup looks like a 2004 Nissan Frontier constructed of Legos. It is powered by a 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engine with no option for four-wheel drive.

Perhaps the most interesting car Pyeonghwa offers is the Junma executive sedan. The Junma is almost identical to a Mercedes E-class from the mid-1990s and serves as the Dodge Charger Hellcat of North Korea thanks to its 197-hp, straight-six engine. It is the most “powerful” car in Pyeonghwa’s lineup.

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