Let's face it, Daewoo has an awful lot of catching up to do. It has been through the wringer as an essentially bankrupt car company, but now as part of the 'GM Family' it has a new spring in its step since GM Daewoo Automotive and Technology was incorporated just eight months ago.

Thing is, while in trouble, the company just didn't give up, and there were a couple of modern products in the pipeline even before the guys from Detroit finally signed on the dotted line.

The Kalos replacement for the Lanos was one. The new Nubira which I've just driven in Austria is the second.

Koreans seem to be a very pragmatic kind of people, and when they decide they want to build a car that will have international appeal, including the seriously important European dimension, they go to the automotive design source.

One of them, anyway. In this case they chose Pininfarina.

And the new Nubira is likely to be a key element in bringing the Daewoo brand to a world status, with a new respectability.

The new company isn't changing its essential rationale, that it builds and sells cars which are good value for the price, and the price is going to be competitive.

What has changed is generational. Daewoo was already in transition in model terms before its difficulties. Like other Korean carmakers, it was coming out of a level behind Japanese benchmarkers to get close to matching some of them. Hyundai did it, so is Kia.

Daewoo was doing quite well in the year 2000, with some 200,000 unit sales in Europe. It was establishing its niche.

Now the new GM Daewoo is working its way back to that level, its first base target in the new automotive world. It is succeeding - this year it now expects to achieve 150,000 units compared to 110,000 last year. And it will be within the bawl of an ass of a one per cent market share in Europe by year's end.

And so, back to the new Nubira. There must be a residual value in the name in Europe, because building a complete new car and then retaining the name wouldn't work otherwise. Look by contrast at the difference in the company's treatment of Lanos, dumped both in the metal and the name.

Well ... wouldn't you?

But the first impression in the metal of this new Nubira is 'wow, that's really good-looking!'

And it is ... it is. A really smart motor car, a really 21st century style that still retains traditional proportions for a saloon.


Pininfarina, I presume it was they, have even fettled the old radiator grille, retaining the three elements but sharpening what was a soft style that led a soft range of cars.

The front lights are still oriental in shape, but there's more techie outlines behind the glass, more jewelled crystal glints. And at the rear, the artistic chunky blocks of the lights housings give a satisfying exclamation mark to the side profile.

Which profile itself is a classic wedge combined with a cab-rearward coupe backdrop that is not just pleasing but also offers rear passengers more headroom than might be common in the segment.

A diversion: the segment targeted is 'C', the Focus/Astra/Corolla domain. Probably the most difficult on them all, certainly the most competitive. And the burning question, asked several times by the Irish Daewoo people, how does it stack up against a Focus?

Probably not in a number of ways, is the honest answer. On the basis of a short overseas experience, it doesn't have the sharpness of the Focus, and inside it doesn't have the 'edge' styling that this particular Ford used to push out a stylistic envelope.

But neither of those things are what the buyers of what might be called 'Korean segment' cars are after.

What they will get with the latest Nubira is a decent, honest, very well built and comfortable car, that is stylish enough for them to be proud to be seen in.

If they are already Daewoo owners - who apparently are a loyal lot across Europe and even within Ireland - they will be very pleased indeed with what they are being offered to upgrade to. If they are new to the brand, because they see it as something that they can afford without dropping down in size, they should be well satisfied if, as I am promised, the price is 'very competitive'.

The car's interior in the version we're getting in Ireland as entry-level, SX, is right up there in quality terms with anything on the market. Quality plastics, decent fabric, and seats that are both ample and comfortable at least in my so far limited experience.

The really good element is the roominess, especially for rear passengers, where the deliberately chosen long wheelbase gives benefits in legroom. In effect, this is a car encroaching on the lower end of the 'D' segment.

If there are downsides, one is if you tap the dashboard, a Europe thing, and you get a hollow sound. It doesn't take away from the quality of the material, just the soundproofing behind it. And though the instruments are clear and informative, they are in graphic terms a carry-over from the generation which the new Nubira is leaving.

At launch in Ireland, there are 1.6- and 1.8-litre engines, substantially improved versions respectively of the GM 'Family One' and 'Family Two' power units. The smaller one is built by Daewoo themselves, the 1.8-litre by GM Holden in Australia.

The 1.6 will be the front-runner in Ireland until a 1.4-litre 85hp unit already familiar in the Kalos comes available in the first quarter of next year.

And as such, it doesn't match the bulk of the C segment cars on our green isle, where a 1.4-litre is de rigeur for car tax and insurance reasons.

Neither does the saloon format fit into mainstream C segment, where 5-doors are what most people buy. A 5-door - and later a 3-door sportier car - is coming in the range, but it will not be named Nubira.

But because a modest 100 copies of the 1.6-litre car will be sold in Ireland before the end of the year, I stayed with that size on my run through eastern Austria.

It's a 16v DOHC engine, outputting a decent 109hp, needing to be revved on a series of twisty uphills but otherwise capably pulling three people and their luggage.

The gearshift is long-throw but nifty enough as long as you don't try and rush it. Pedal controls were smooth.

The suspension has been tautened for European tastes, but scientifically, unlike when American cars are hardened in their underpinnings for over here. It remains very comfortable in ride terms.

Among the goodies: ABS and EBD are standard across the range, the SX gets dual airbags and an option of airconditioning, the 1.8 has a 5-disc CD changer and an option of automatic trans.

When I get to drive it in Ireland, I'll be more critical. But even in the single pothole we found in Austria, it performed very well in the crunch stakes too.

I wouldn't have owned the previous Nubira. I'd be very comfortable having this one as my own car.