Intro: Founded in South Korea in 1972 as a joint venture between GM and Shinjin Motor, it adopted the name Daewoo Motor
in 1983, and produced mildly reworked GM designs for many years.
Helped by the establishment of technical and development centres in the UK and Germany, Daewoo replaced the GM-based cars
with its first totally home-grown cars in 1996 and 1997 when the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza was introduced.
World-wide expansion left many to wonder whether the company can sustain the speed of growing. Although the Matiz was introduced in 1998 and SsangYong was taken over the Asian financial crisis hit the conglomerate badly and in 1999 it went into receivership.
After years of discussions, General Motors have finally taken over part of the assets and formed a new company, GM-Daewoo
In Korea, the Bupyung facility has not been taken over by the new company. This plant will be formed into a new company, Daewoo Inchon Motor Company, and will continue to supply GM Daewoo with vehicles, engines, transmissions and components for at least six years. The agreements give GM Daewoo an option to acquire this company any time within the next six years.
Slowly old Daewoo models are being phased out world-wide. In several Central and Eastern European countries old Daewoo models are still being assembled while new GM-Daewoo offerings are available under the Chevrolet brand. |
