As Daewoo Group begins selling cars in the United States this week, its low-key marketing approach and questionable choice of models leave analysts wondering if there’s anybody behind the wheel at the Korean auto giant.

Though Daewoo is largely unknown in this country, Daewoo Motor America Inc., the company’s Compton-based American subsidiary, plans no television commercials and only a limited amount of radio and print ads. Two of the three cars Daewoo will be selling are compact or smaller sizes that are not selling well in the United States.

And the customers Daewoo is focusing on college students typically do not have the financial resources or credit needed to buy a new car.

Furthermore, Korean-made automobiles primarily because of quality problems with the early Excels that Hyundai Motor Co. sold in the U.S. have a poor reputation in this country.

“I don’t think they’ll be successful,” said Maryann Keller, an analyst with ING Barings Furman Selz LLC, echoing the sentiments of many industry observers. “I think the marketing plan is peculiar at best.”

Daewoo Motor America officials disagree. While they acknowledge that the company’s U.S. debut faces many obstacles, they point to the advantages of their cars low prices, long maintenance plans and lots of features. These plusses, they say, will attract customers to Daewoo dealers, which number four in Southern California and 15 nationwide.

“We’re coming to the market with a high-quality, high-value product,” said Bill Tucker, Daewoo Motor America’s vice president for marketing and customer relations. “And we think if we price it right and position it right, people will see it as an exceptional value.”

Daewoo’s lowest-priced car will sell for $9,000; its highest-priced, a fully loaded mid-sized sedan, will go for just $20,000. All Daewoo cars will come with full maintenance plans for three years or 36,000 miles.

Tucker said South Korea’s economic problems which have caused Daewoo’s Korean sales to drop, and its debt to rise have had an impact on the U.S. But that’s not the reason for the stealth marketing campaign, which was set even before the Asian flu hit, Tucker said.

“We’ve had to devise a very unique even offbeat approach to get noticed,” he said. “Given the high cost of advertising, we don’t think there’s any other way to break through other than being unique.”

That offbeat approach includes using an army of college students about 2,100 nationwide, with a third of those in Southern California to promote the cars to their peers. The so-called “Daewoo Campus Advisors” will be paid commissions of $300 to $500 for every car sold through their referrals. The college representatives will be given Daewoo cars to drive for 30 days.

Analysts, however, find that marketing approach curious because few college students have the steady income, savings and credit history needed to buy a new car.

“I guess I don’t understand it,” said Keller. “There’s an assumption here that college students have the financial wherewithal to go out and buy a car on their own, and that’s usually not the case. It certainly wasn’t the case with my children.”

As late as last week, Daewoo was working with creditors on a financing plan to make it possible to sell cars to college students, and company officials were hoping to have that plan finalized by this week. One idea might even involve Daewoo itself backing bank loans to college students. “Anything is possible,” Tucker said.

Another potential customer base is the Korean-American community. As with the campus advisors, Daewoo is loaning new cars to “opinion leaders” church leaders, business people and civic leaders with the hope that they will get the word out.

Analysts say this strategy makes sense, particularly since Korean Americans are more likely to be familiar with Daewoo cars.

“As long as there isn’t a sense that this is a Korean vehicle only for Korean Americans, if there is an angle you can play, I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” said analyst Lincoln Merrihew of Agoura Hills-based J.D. Power and Associates. “You’ve got to tap into every market you can.”

No matter what the consumer base, Daewoo’s future in the U.S. has been questioned because of the type of cars the company will be selling. While the mid-sized Leganza is comparable to a Ford Contour in size and fits in with American tastes, the compact Nubira and the subcompact Lanos are smaller than the sport utility vehicles and full-sized cars favored by Americans. Toyota Motor Corp. recently dropped the subcompact Tercel from its lineup, and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.’s small Sentra is struggling.

Tucker said the smaller vehicles are being introduced because they were the ones prepared for sale in the U.S. market before American tastes shifted away from small cars. He said they have been successfully introduced in the United Kingdom and other markets.

He added that Daewoo sells sport utility vehicles and other larger vehicles in other parts of the world. “We eventually anticipate that some of that product will be made available in the United States,” he said.

Despite all the hurdles, not everyone believes the company is doomed to certain failure in the U.S.

Merrihew said there is a chance that Daewoo could receive favorable word of mouth among its Generation X target market because of its unusually low-key marketing approach. That, he said, could lead to growing sales within a few years of the company’s U.S. introduction without the cost of expensive advertising.

“Everyone thinks Daewoo is going to fail, but I don’t think anyone will know until it gets out of the gate,” Merrihew said.