Chevrolet Production Staying Put In Korea
Despite an explicit suggestion from Opel’s own CEO that Chevrolet cars could be built in European Opel plants, GM Korea has shut the door on such an idea.
GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha told reporters as the Busan Auto Show that plans for such a move didn’t exist, even though they were “…looking at it”. Vehicles like the Captiva and Orlando are mainly sold in Europe despite being produced in South Korea. According to Automotive News, South Korean trade unions have threatened “war” against GM if a production move took place.
With the majority of European Chevrolet models built in South Korea, it seems only natural for GM to make such a move. It may be that we have to wait for the whole Opel mess to shake out until we know why they decided against taking advantage of their extra capacity to build hot selling models.
More by Derek Kreindler
Comments
Join the conversation
I can see why the Koreans would not be impressed, but what if it were possible to keep their production levels where they are and simply add production to Opel? Seem's like the Daewoo variants are doing fairly well worldwide, I'm sure they could find a market for Opel built Daewoos outside of Europe.
I guess it will not simply be up to GM Korea to decide if some Chevrolet production goes out from there to Europe. I will be a far more strategic decision to be cooked at higher levels...
The reason Chevrolet is now successful in Europe is that the consumers knows they are made in S Korea, not USA and not Germany! But why is GM competing with themselves in Europe (Opel vs Chevrolet)? To have a market presence when they ax Opel?