GM Daewoo to Play Important Role in General Motor's Asian-Pacific Operations

On August 4th in a news conference held in Seoul, GM chairman Rich Wagoner said its Korean affiliate GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. would be a prime engineering center of its Asian-Pacific operation.

Wagoner notes GM Daewoo will play very important role in not just GM’s efforts to expand in Korea but also in Asia-Pacific including China. The Korean affiliate exports its compact cars in the form of complete knockdown, commonly known as CKD, to GM's joint venture in China.

As of last year, GM Daewoo exported 46,368 CKD units to China. But in the first five months of this year, the Korean affiliate has already shipped 46,816 units to the country, raising hopes of more than doubling the export figure this year.


GM Daewoo has a research and development facility at its flagship Bupyeong plant in Inch’ôn with 1,792 staff. It also runs an automotive design center in Korea with 78 researchers. Its larger rival Hyundai Automotive Group has about 6,500 Korean-based research personnel .

GM Daewoo was formed in November 2002 after General Motors bought the main assets of bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co. The company is the third-largest automaker in Korea accounting for 9.7 percent of local sales and 14.1 percent of the nation's auto exports last year.

The automaker is strong in the mini-car segment in Korea. GM Daewoo’s Matiz model accounts for more than 60 percent of the local market segment.

In March 2004, the U.S. automaker decided to invest $530 million in its Korean affiliate. Plans call for the introduction of a sport utility model and large sedan in Korea within the next two years. The models will enable GM Daewoo to compete with Hyundai and Kia in all market segments