HDC Young Chang
HDC Young Chang Co., Ltd. ( Young Chang Musical Instruments ) is a Korean manufacturer of grand and upright pianos .
history
Young Chang was founded in Incheon ( Seoul , Korea ) in 1956 , shortly after the Korean War , by three brothers as a piano business. In order to avoid the high import duties on luxury items, pianos were imported in individual parts and were therefore merchandise. The parts were then reassembled into pianos in Korea.
The enormous demand for pianos led to the establishment of an own piano factory in Seoul in 1964 with the help of the Yamaha Corporation . In 1967 the first pianos were made. The instruments were initially only made for the Korean market, later they were sold worldwide. Production grew in the 1990s to over 100,000 grand and upright pianos per year. This made Young Chang the world's largest piano manufacturer for a time. Own branches were founded in the USA, Canada and Europe (Young Chang Akki Europe GmbH, Viersen) and the instruments were sold themselves. Young Chang also made pianos for other manufacturers, including Hohner and Steinway & Sons (Essex series). Around 4 million pianos have been made so far.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Young Chang manufactured guitars for the Fender company under the Squier label. From 1989 to approx. 1995 an own production line followed with guitars under the label Fenix, u. a. exact copies of Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster as well as own designs. The headstock designs had to be changed following a plagiarism lawsuit from Fender.
In 1995, a factory was established in China, producing around 10,000 pianos and grand pianos per year.
In the 1990s, Young Chang took over the Kurzweil company from the American inventor and author Raymond Kurzweil from YCA (Young Chang America). Young Chang also founded the YCRDC (Young Chang Research & Development Center) in the USA , in which high-quality electronic musical instruments are developed.
In 2004 acquired Samick Musical Instrument Co . acquired a 48.58 percent stake in Young Chang, obtained a majority stake through a capital increase and took control of the company's management. However, the Korean Fair Trade Commission blocked the takeover as it would create a monopoly and ordered Samick to sell his stake in Young Chang. Young Chang went bankrupt on September 21, 2004 following the decision of the Fair Trade Commission.
The Hyundai Development Company (HDC) acquired Young Chang in 2006. The company was renamed HDC Young Chang in 2018.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bloomberg - Are you a robot? Retrieved May 4, 2020 .
- ^ A b c Pianos: Economic and Competitive Conditions Affecting the US Industry. (PDF) Retrieved on May 4, 2020 (English).
- ^ A b Palmieri, Robert, 1930-, Palmieri, Margaret W .: Piano: an encyclopedia . 2nd ed. Routledge, New York 2003, ISBN 0-415-93796-5 .
- ↑ a b ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPETITION POLICY DEVELOPMENTS IN KOREA. (PDF) OECD, accessed on May 4, 2020 .
- ↑ HDC YOUNGCHANG. Retrieved May 4, 2020 .