Keangsaeng 88 - The North Korean 190E #blogpost

So apparently the North Koreans copied a Mercedes-Benz 190E in the late 1980s. The funny thing is that, outside of North Korea, we know almost nothing about it. What we know is that it’s based off a 1987 Mercedes-Benz W201 “Baby-Benz”.

According to one source, a single 190E was imported to Thailand and then one thing led to another and eventually it ended up in North Korea. It was then taken apart and reverse-engineered, allegedly in a quite inaccurate manner. The build quality of this car was, according to sources, beyond good and evil. So terrible that the windows didn’t close correctly and could open while driving. There was no air conditioning. The power, if the engine made any, was probably all sent to the rear wheels. It perhaps has a 4-cylinder petrol engine, but not a Mercedes reverse-engineered one. Assumingly it’s an imported or replicated Soviet engine. I would guess it comes from a GAZ Pobeda, since quite a few of them were exported to North Korea, but that’s just a wild guess. It’d be a 4-cylinder petrol engine, a very solid one too and it can be driven with very low-quality fuel, as low as RON 66, which would come in handy. But as I said, that’s just a wild guess. There are no information about anywhere.

Some other people even claim that there is no Keangsaeng 88 but just a bunch of 190s that were imported and equipped with another grille to give the impression of North Korea being able to produce cars. This would not explain the alleged build quality of course, and it’s really unlikely that Mercedes would export cars to North Korea.