GM Enjoys Market Dominance In Uzbekistan
There is one corner of the world where the glory days of General Motors are a reality rather than a memory; Uzbekistan.
Reuters takes a look at GM’s dominance in the former Soviet Republic, where 94 percent of of new cars sold last year were manufactured by The General.
GM’s plant in a remote region of the country is considered to be a cornerstone of the country’s plan to modernize, rather than continue to export raw materials like cotton. Workers at the plant are said to be trained in South Korea, which hardly seems coincidental given that GM’s most popular models in the country, the Chevrolet Matiz and Nexia, are Daewoo products.
Reuters reports that Uzbekistan is now GM’s eighth-largest market, and their Uzbeki joint venture will produce 250,000 cars in 2012. But not all is kosher halal in this largely Muslim republic, as Reuters shows in their article
“On Wednesday, the company rolled out a new model, the Chevrolet Cobalt, a family-size sedan aimed both at the local Uzbek market and other former Soviet states.
Reuters text correspondents are not accredited to report in Uzbekistan and permission was not granted to attend the launch. But an accredited TV cameraman was admitted and also visited GM’s Asaka plant and engine plant in Tashkent with a photographer.
Marimjon Jumabayev, manager of the production line at the Asaka plant which rolls out the Chevrolet Spark, described the launch as a “great achievement”.
“I am happy to glorify my nation, Uzbekistan,” he said. A Foreign Ministry official accompanied Reuters on the visit.”
More by Derek Kreindler
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In Soviet Russia, [insert punchline] !
Borat: I want to have a car that attract a woman with shave down below. Car salesperson: Well that would be a Corvette. Or a Hummer. [starts showing Borat cars] Car salesperson: We'll try to help you out here. Borat: A man yesterday, told me if I buy a car I must buy one with a pussy magnet. Car salesperson: He means a car that women like. Borat: Yes, but where do you keep this magnet? Car salesperson: Uhh..no. There's no magnet, he just means the vehicle. Borat: Does this have a pussy magnet? Car Dealership owner: No. The vehicle itself would be a magnet. Borat: Great! When I uh, buy my wife, at the start she was uh, cook good, her vazhïn work well, and she strong on plow. But after three years when she was fifteen, then she become weak, her voice become deep: BORAT BORAT, eh, she receive hair on chest, and vazhïn hang like sleeve of wizard. Car salesperson: Oh...Jesus... Borat: How do I know that this will not happen with the car? Car salesperson: Chevrolet guarantees you that with a warranty. :-P
Be there or be square. Revel in the spine-tingling chills of the Uzbekistan national anthem!!! add a "w" ww.youtube.com/watch?v=KJfceQzUdbA